Bartzokas: «With the same humility, attention and focus»

Olympiacos comfortably upped their lead to 2-1 and in order to be crowned the Greek Champion next Thursday, they must play with the same humility, attention and focus, according to the statements made by coach Giorgos Bartzokas.

“Congratulations to our team. We made in important step towards the final goal of the season. Of course, this step gives us nothing. We must, with the same humility, attention and focus, to prepare for the next game, which is also going to be very difficult, just like the one tonight. I don’t have much to say, we’d better analyze the season when it concludes, either with a positive or a negative mark”.

Asked if defense was the key, he replied: “It’s always the key. Of course, I believe that in basketball, both ends of the floor are important. We have had a good defensive behavior, we played one for another, and we generally left nothing easy for Panathinaikos to take, with only a few exceptions in the first half. I would say that titles are decided in close games. The plays you win, the ones that can go either way, are very important, when the possession is not certain and if you take it, you gain confidence and at the same time, the opponent is deprived of theirs. The atmosphere here is difficult for the opponent. We relied on our defense throughout the season. We have had one of the best, if not the best one, in the Euroleague. We now must lean on it, now that the season is coming to an end and there is mental and physical fatigue, we deal with injuries… Sloukas has had gastroenteritis, tonight Pananikolaou felt a muscle tightening and could not continue, Sasha got injured in a play, Black is not ready to help us following his injury. So, everyone that plays have to contribute in their respective roles, so that our team wins the Championship. We did that well for the most part tonight”.