Bartzokas: “When you have a player with instincts like Fournier’s, sometimes you allow him to go a little overboard”

Bringing out character and quality in the last part of the game and having many protagonists in the final, Olympiacos passed with a score of 89-80 from Monaco and “spoiled” it in the Vasilis Spanoulis.

After the match, George Bartzokas spoke at the press conference about what determined the victory, the many shots taken by Evan Fournierthe state of Sasha Vezenkov, Mustafa Fal but also “Kill Bill”.

What he said in detail:

For Olympiakos’ victory: “The quality level of the match was very good. Great players and teams, it was an impressive game for the fans. This is the Euroleague now, you have to play at the highest level and be consistent. Offensively, we were good for 40 minutes, but defensively it was only in the second half that we did well and conceded 35 points. It was important for us to focus on what they are doing offensively, they had 16 assists in the first half. In the second they went to a lot of iso and a lot of difficult shots and we defended well, getting the win. Good luck in Monaco, for us another important win away from home in our difficult schedule, and now we have a difficult match against Paris.”

For the defense of Olympiakos: “We changed three options in defense during the game. We have good defenders on the ball, Walkup, Williams Goss, McKissick did a really good job. We wanted to defend in iso, get the ball out of James’ hands. Of course they have other good players, but we thought it was difficult to lose from the points they would put in the racket.”

On Vezenkov’s condition: “Vezenkov had a problem with his neck, during the game he got hit in the eye but everyone knows how important he is. I appreciate how much he did for the win, Fal has a leg issue and we’ll see tomorrow. We hope to have them all on Friday.”

On Fournier and the shots he missed: “When you have a player like Fournier with the scoring instincts and the will to win, sometimes you let him go a little overboard. He is a very good teammate, it is accepted by me and by them.”

For the difficulties of the double competition: “It’s really difficult, a topic that all the coaches talk about. We will arrive in Athens in the morning and sleep at 6. What training will we do tomorrow? Some video, some physical therapy. That is why in the doubles matches the executions fall in the second games. And many times games are decided there by luck or by individual actions. It’s not difficult only for us but for everyone, we have 85-90 games, so for us coaches training is important but we don’t have time.”

For Spanoulis: “Because of the amazing name he created as a player, he had the opportunity to get very good coaching jobs straight away. First Peristeri which was a good team, then in the National team and now in Monaco which is a target for every coach in Europe. Now Vassilis with only two years of experience has the opportunity to coach such a good team with such experienced players. I’m happy for him, but I want to emphasize that Saša Obradovic did a great job in this team, got two titles and reached the Final Four. Therefore, from my side, I want to send the greatest respect to Saša Obradović, but also good luck to Vassilis.”