Losing the title in the grand final is unfair to him Olympic and all the effort he made this year, as emphasized by George Bartzokas. The coach of Piraeus referred to the last crucial possessions the next day as well. He spoke in detail about:
– the bitter finale for Olympiakos: “It is the most bitter way to lose, as it happened last year against Efes in the semi-final. Yule’s basket was a very difficult shot under a lot of pressure from Fal. But he got in and that’s it.”
-Real’s zone defense: “Real played 38 minutes in the zone, I believe that with man to man they would not be able to against us. We had good circulation, got a lot of open shots, but in the last three to four minutes we missed 3-4 wide open shots, along with some shots. Everything that was done was done to achieve this result, which for us is particularly difficult and soul-destroying.”
-why he didn’t foul before Real’s last attack: “I thought we should foul, but why would we give him the chance to go forward? Kozer, Rodriguez, Yule were in… Do you think any of them would miss shots? We gave them a very difficult shot, but it was taken by Yule who is ignorant of danger and class and has put in quite a few of those. We had Fal on him and he put it in.”
-the last attack: “We planned a play, we knew that Real would go to the players who didn’t want to shoot. Sluka’s shot came in good conditions, but we missed it.”
– the report: “We completed an amazing year in the Euroleague. We sparked the interest of the public and our fans in basketball. I thank our people, what we experienced last year and this year was fantastic. The year doesn’t end the way we deserved it to end for us, but we still have one more goal. We should take stock and evaluate at the end of the season. If you told us that we would get three titles and go to the Euroleague final before the start of the year, we would have been happy, but now we are very upset. They don’t go more upset.”
-how difficult it is for Olympiacos to turn to the remaining obligations: “It’s very difficult, but life goes on. Our heads were up to the floor in the locker room. We also played well in the final, but details and luck played their part.”
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
