Kemzura: "Quality throughout forty minutes"

Olympiacos is hosting Armani Milano tomorrow (29/11, 20.30 CET) and according to the team's coach, Kestutis Kemzura, the 'reds' shall have to play quality basketball for all forty minutes of the game to win. 

Originally, the Lithuanian coach talked about the players that need to be contained… "Armani has been playing good basketball. They have won seven games and have experienced players. First of all, they have Rodriguez, who is its greatest facilitator and top scorer. Another key player is Scola. He's also a veteran and a very well known player. He can play two positions and is also one of the top scorers of our opponent. Micov is the third, who can play many different positions, and they also have Nedovic, who has been well in these past few games and is very dangerous". 

On whether the fact that Ettore Messina will be in the opponent's bench means anything special to him, he said: "I have played against him in the pat. When I was with Khimki and he was with CSKA. We had made some good wins at the time, but now, we have two different teams. Of course, it's always a challenge to play against teams that are coached by excellent coaches and tomorrow's game is no exception. Nevertheless, I mostly focus on my team".

Asked if he thinks that his players have finally found balance, he replied: "We seem to be better after the games in Germany and I think we have raised the level. It's a pity we did not come back with two victories, but only with one. The last game against Alba was really very strong, however, still… This one is going to be a different game, against a different opponent. We have been working and trying to prepare each game the best way possible. We need to show quality against Armani throughout the forty minutes of the game, not only in some parts of it. We need to fight for forty minutes". 

Finally, about the absence of Willie Reed, as well as the good performance by Sasha Vezenkov in the recent friendly game against Lavrio, he commented: "Reed is not going to be ready for tomorrow. Sasha is going to make the rotation and we believe he's going to give his best self, like he always does. We'll see how all of this is going to work".

On his part, Sasha Veznkov stressed: "They have found roles and chemistry. They have too many quality players; they are not the Armani of previous seasons. They have a legend in their bench and their Euroleague record proves a lot. They are at the top seeds, they've been playing very good basketball and to win this game we'll have to be 100% consistent, be very tough and win the rebounds".

When told that Olympiacos has been playing at a higher level lately, he pointed out: "To be honest, we should have won both games in Germany to be able to say that we did a perfect job. However, we have left that behind us. We have been working very hard at practice; we have been trying to find the right chemistry and the more the games go forth, the better we are going to be playing. From there on, we shouldn't be taking steps backwards. We have already lost many games at home and we need to play really tough to win this, because what follows is even more difficult ".

As for his personal level of readiness, he said that: "I try to always be mentally ready and to give 100%. I feel good physically and I'll try to help the team with whatever is needed of me. Of course we would prefer to have Willie with us as well. But those of us who are going to be on the floor, are going to be giving 100% and I hope we bring the desired result".