Barzoka’s absolute justification, 6 months after the statement about McKissick: “I don’t sell the players who brought me here”

It was November 8 when Olympiacos had several injury problems, it had lost two very important cogs, the Sasha Vezenkov and the Kostas Sloukas and George Bartzokas he received criticism and… recommendations that he needs reinforcement with a scorer. The coach of Piraeus then, under pressure, had turned his back on the players who have led him this far and especially on Shaquille McKissick, who was injured at the time. “I won’t sell my players who won all this together, I won’t trade McKissick because he was injured for 1-1.5 months“, were his words.

In a story that only sports can create, half a year later, exactly 6 months since then, on May 8, the American guard with big baskets sent Olympiakos to a third consecutive Final Four of the Euroleague. He was the one who, when the ball was burning, made 2 three-pointers, while the Piraeus team up to that moment had 3 on target, and a surprise basket that, combined with his terrible steal just before the end of the match, led to the victory-qualification.

This seems to be the secret of Giorgos Bartzokas’ team, which, without having the budgets of the other top teams in Europe, has created an excellent team with players who also fight for their coach, who supports them in difficult times.

Edited by: Manos Pitsakis Macheiras