In the press conference following the big road win over Barcelona and the 2/2 record of this double-game Euroleague week, the coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas, talked about the significance of the win, given the injury problems and also dedicated the win to the victims of Gate 7.
His initial statement was: "It was a really difficult game for us, but also for Barva. Both teams fight for the best possible seed. For us, before traveling for this double-game week, facing many minor injury issues with Fournier, Fall and Vezenkov after the game against Paris and without having Vildoza and Walkup with us, we were thinking that it would be fine to win one of two games, but our 'refuse to lose' mentality gave us another win tonight, against a team that gave all it had. Despite trailing by 7, they came back and they probably deserved to win as much as we did. At the end, it came down to one offensive play. Congrats to the players, I'm grateful for our fans both in Paris and here tonight. They deserved this win, as much as my players did".
Following a question about the officials, he said that: "whoever loses a Euroleague game, it's a new trend now, they feel they must say something about the refs. Don't expect me to say anything else than the officiating being 50-50. In the last four offensive plays, Kevin Punter won free throws in all of them. It's always a matter of optics".
About the importance of having added Sasha Vezenkov and Evan Fournier to the roster. "We know that last season was one of our best, making a third final 4 in a row, but this season, we have even more talent with us, with players like Vezenkov and Fournier. You see how competitive the league is. It's very important to have these two with us, but we also prove we have a very strong team, we have principles and we play together, as a team".
About how important the support of the fans is: "When we were trailing by 9, the team had an immediate reaction and if I'm not mistaken, we came back in 2 minutes, we got to lead. That means we have character as a team and we play as one. I know what Olympiacos means for the fans. Wherever we play, we have fantastic support from the fans, they are passionate about supporting the club in good and bad moments. Even in arenas when having our fans with us is not possible".
Closing, he dedicated the win to the memory of the victims of Gate 7: "I would like to point out something very important for our club, February 8 is an exceptionally important day, 21 young people were perished 44 years ago that day. Tomorrow (i.e. the day has turned) there is a memorial service for them in Piraeus. We would like to dedicate tonight's win to them. And to our fans".
