THE AEK Betsson was competitive for one half, but in the second Olympiacos dramatically increased its performance and won 92-75, taking a 1-0 lead in the series between them.
After the match, George Bartzokas pointed out that his team should not continue to play only 15-20 minutes of good basketball in each match, while he emphasized the need for an immediate increase in his performance Olympiakou.
At the same time, he commented on the fact that he was “cut” from the domestic roster Moses Wrightwhile referring to the award for the best coach of the Euroleague, won by Chus Mateo.
His statements in detail:
“It was the first playoff game of the Greek league. We faced AEK, which has had a lot of problems lately. Nevertheless, I believe that this kind of teams, despite the problems, always find motivation to play against teams like Olympiacos. And because the players and the coach have quality and pride our opponent was very competitive for 25 minutes. Our players were obviously not prepared for that.
In the first half we had no tension neither in defense nor in attack. We have to understand that we have another match on Saturday and then we will go to the final four of the Euroleague. Any player who does not push himself to play with intensity will not be properly prepared for the semi-final against Real. We cannot say that we will suddenly turn a button. I have no complaints about the training but in the last two months in all the games here at SEF we have played 15-20 minutes of basketball and now is not the time for that. I understand that we had a difficult and tiring series both mentally, psychologically and physically, however, we must immediately find ourselves in a good condition to play the matches”.
About Moses Wright: “Moses is a player who, coming to Olympiakos, significantly helped our team to start winning everywhere. This was a very difficult decision for me, one of the most difficult decisions I have made at Olympiakos. From a competitive point of view, I didn’t have anyone to beat. Every player gives a dimension to our game, every player has ability, every player has contributed to get us this far. I decided to cut Moses because he had the least amount of time on the team. Moses has a contract with our team for next year and we count him normally. There is no doubt that for me he is one of the rising stars of European basketball.”
For EuroLeague awards: “I was never concerned about that. I had no idea the first time it was announced that it was me. Last year it was announced to me here. Of course it made me happy, but I tell you the truth that I don’t care, because in the two previous years that I came out, we didn’t win the Euroleague.
Here there is a certain way of voting, coaches, players, people vote, obviously it is something subjective. I don’t think any Olympiacos player had a problem not being in the first or second five. We are interested in our team and not individual titles. This year our work, me and the coaches, was more difficult than the previous two.
Chus Mateo 100% deserved the title. Real Madrid have dominated all year. Why not him? There are fantastic players who are in the first and second five and there are fantastic players who are not.”
Source: Sport Fm
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