Bartzokas: “We have the same thirst as 2 years ago – It will be the culmination of the whole year’s effort”

With the best possible psychology and with faith in the qualification to the Final 4 of the Euroleague, his mission flew Olympiakoufor tomorrow’s fifth and final game of the playoff series against Barcelona.

With his statements, the coach of the “red and whites”, George Bartzokasspoke about the thirst and motivation of his team, as in the last two years when it qualified for the “4”, stressing, among other things, that everyone wants it and believes in it very much, while the qualification will be the culmination of a hard effort with setbacks and difficulties throughout the season.

The statements of Giorgos Bartzokas in detail:



For the fifth final with Barcelona: “I would like to say that in general we are very pleased. This is the 3rd year we have played a fifth game. On the one hand, we would like to have finished earlier every year, because these matches have a special psychological and spiritual burden. On the other hand, that’s why we got involved in basketball, to have the possibility as players, coaches to play such important and big games. We are happy to play the fifth game, against Barcelona such a great team to go to the final four. We know that we are not in our field and we are not the favorite. But in any case we have our chances if we play well to go through.”

On whether the big margin of victory in the 4th match will play a role: “The last game was decided by a big margin, but you never know in the next game how this will play out. It often acts as a motivation for the opponent because he feels hurt. On the other hand, we saw that if we follow a certain plan and play well, our ceiling is high and we can compete with anyone.”



On how badly he wants the qualification: “We want it very much. We have the same thirst and the same motivation that we had in the first year when we went to the final four two years ago. We want it very much and we believe it will be the culmination of a great effort this year, in terms of the many setbacks and injuries we have had. If we finally succeed, we will again be a difficult opponent for anyone.”