Bartzokas: «We must be the ones to set the tempo»

Olympiacos is traveling to Tel Aviv for the game against Maccabi (22/11, 20.05 CET) aiming to maintain his undefeated record in Europe.

The burden will befall the guards, according to the explanation given by the ‘red & whites’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas… “The two combo guards that play this position, Brown and Baldwin, make a lot of decisions impacting the game and the score. Therefore, it is imperative to play good on them. We have analyzed the way they play. They use some match up zones. It is essentially a man-to-man defense with switches. We have a plan for this game and we hope it works out”.

About what it is his team needs to be doing to return with yet one more road win, he said: “We have to protect the ball. They are putting a lot of pressure on the initial pass; they steal the ball often enough and with the big players as well and when they open up the game in the transition they go strong for the offensive rebounds. They are a team that likes to play with two athletic centers, Poythress and Nebo. As a conclusion, we have to try and control the tempo of the game, make good decisions and impose the rhythm. If we do that, then we have a good chance at winning”.