Bartzokas: “We beat a very good team, we have proven that we have character”

THE George Bartzokas he focused on the defense and the things he took from the bench, characterizing the victory over Panathinaikos as important for Olympic in SEF for the Euroleague.

“It was a very important victory, basically for the effort we are making to qualify for the playoffs and by extension because it came against Panathinaikos, which is a very good team. We are happy, I want to thank our people who created an amazing atmosphere and everything was in a civilized atmosphere. I want to congratulate our players on the win and I want to give a special mention to Walkup and Goss who played with a practice. Larentzakis wanted to play, he was not ready, but he had a great will to play. Thanks to our doctor and physios who worked late to get our injured ready. We played very good defense, it’s not easy to hold Panathinaikos to 65 points, we had 11 steals and led the opponent to 18 mistakes, which shows our effort. The only problem we had was rebounding, but even with those numbers it’s important to win. Good luck to Panathinaikos, we want to keep fighting“, he initially emphasized.

Asked if Olympiakos is missing something compared to last season, he answered: “Fighting spirit is always important. With Virtus we were losing at half time, but we won. Today Panathinaikos started very well, but again we reacted. The self-sacrifice of our players is important, without selfishness. Everyone on the team plays for the team».

On how he felt about playing so long without his two rooks and getting so much from Wright: “I feel bad (s.s. smiles). Wright is still learning. He doesn’t know his opponents very well. He plays with great intensity, with speed, he has a great ability to score and he played a very good match. However, when the difference was over 10 points we had to control our emotions a bit, we made some mistakes in defense. But it happens, I can’t complain when we conceded 65 points».

Regarding Olympiakos’ form, he said:Life is disruptive. There are some constants, you see the behavior of the players, how they train, how good teammates they are. We have been hit hard by injuries all year. I thought that if we had no other problems, we would do what we did. We haven’t done anything yet, in the five matches we want to win as many as we can. The main goal is to be in the playoffs again, it is important that the team is at a high level even though, let’s say, they lost the best player of the Euroleague. People see that and that’s why they fill the stadium. The whole organization is working very well, with the presidents first. But we don’t want big statements, we continue humbly».

As for whether Olympiacos is showing metal, he said:I would say yes. In no game have we played full. In the game we lost at OAKA in the last phase, we didn’t have Fal, Milutinov was injured and Petrusev was playing with a contusion. We always had important players out. What we hope is to prepare well as a team. We’ve proven our character, we’ve won seven titles and been to two Final 4s. I don’t think there’s any doubt about the mentality of our players».

On the importance of defense against Panathinaikos and the three additions made during the season: “We forced the additions and now we have much more depth. We tried to make the team deeper because we had injuries, last year when we had no problems we were almost from start to finish first. In the third quarter, it didn’t necessarily look like we had more depth. In the second quarter we usually do a big rotation, our whole roster is useful. In the third quarter we usually play with our starting five and maybe because they are more rested they make the difference. The team is always under pressure, but at half-time we try to see things realistically».

Finally, when asked if he agrees with Ergin Ataman who does not want a “civil war” in the playoffs, he replied: “As Olympiacos, we never choose an opponent. And historically it never has. Olympiacos is not a team that loses games on purpose. We deal with everything with the appropriate approach. Coach Ataman is right that these games are usually not pretty, but it is logical because the pressure is great. Today we had Kanaan with 1/8, if he had a normal percentage the difference would be much bigger».