Bartzokas: “The worst thing about Baskonia is to believe that we will have an easy task”

On Thursday night (21/11, 21:15), o Olympic hosts the Peace and Friendship Stadium Baskonia in the context of the 11th matchday of the Euroleague, with the sole aim of his sixth consecutive victory in the competition!

Speaking at the “red and white” media day, a few hours before the game against the Basques, the team’s coach, George Bartzokas, he emphasized once again the dangers that arise if the club underestimates the Basques and believes that it will be an easy game, bringing as an example the recent image in the match against Villeurbanne.

In detail what Giorgos Bartzokas said:



For Olympiakos’ next opponent: “Basconia is a team with a very good coach, they always play at a high tempo and score a lot. She is having some trouble transitioning this year to a somewhat different style of play, mostly defensively. However defensively they are the 3rd team in possessions allowed which means they are a good team defensively. We have to be very focused in our offensive plan, make quick decisions, move the ball as we usually do, go for the defensive rebound and thus control the tempo of the game through this process.

For us, coming off a five-game winning streak, the worst thing we can do is for anyone in our team and in the stands to believe that we will have an easy task. Usually in these matches we always have a problem, as it was seen with Villeurbanne. Approach is very important in Euroleague games and we need to approach the importance of the game. In this period of time when we have completed almost 1/3 of the games in the competition, we must continue to win games, play better, improve as a reference the form of the players but also our defensive and offensive execution. If we do this, we have a serious chance of winning, but that is not a given from the beginning.”

The players at the club’s media day were represented by Giannoulis Larentzakiswith the Greek guard emphasizing the seriousness that everyone must show in the game against the Basques.

“We want to continue in this momentum, we currently have a very good mentality, we are working well, we have achieved the results we want and I believe that tomorrow we will show the right face, the seriousness and energy for the match that is required”.