Bartzokas: “Congratulations to Lessor, what happened hurt us all – Evans has lifted 10 apartment buildings into debt”

THE Olympic was forced more than he expected, but in the end he beat Alba with a score of 90-85 and closed the first round of the Euroleague on a positive note.

After the match, George Bartzokas spoke at the press conference about him as well Matias Lessor. The coach of the “red and white” sent wishes for recovery to the center of Panathinaikos, while he talked about the general image of his team and the Nathan Mensah which comes on Sunday morning in Greece.

What he said in detail:

“Many things to say about the game and at the same time little. I prefer to just talk to the players about the approach we had. At the same time we are very close to the 1st place at the end of the 1st round and we also had a lot of injuries during this time, even playing with a tall one. Today we fell into the trap that we were more or less going to win, we were 10-11 points up and then we didn’t do the simple things, good defenses, control the tempo, we didn’t stop them from going on the run. They put five very long and difficult three-pointers on defense some. And they took the lead at the end, we wanted 1-2 good plays, two baskets by Fournier, two rebounds by Vezenkov, a steal by Vildoza. We feel tired mainly from the pressure we had to win.

One more time I have to say, I’m getting boring, but in EuroLeague there is no easy game. Barcelona lost to Virtus, Zalgiris to Villeurbanne. It’s a marathon and you just have to win games. From this point of view we are happy. Very happy for our friends who came for the second game in a row, even though we didn’t play a big name, they packed the stadium and supported us. And my best wishes to Lessor, may he come back stronger. Injuries are something that hurts all of us in sports.”

On whether the 2nd round is difficult: “There is no difficult second round, because the first round was easy? Whichever team Alba wins, the coach of the opponents leaves. Everyone thinks it’s a must-have game, but there isn’t one. They shoot with five players, they know how to move with a coach for many years. They have no pressure, win or lose. We had to be better defensively, not give them rebounds, make fouls that we didn’t make. We had to take the game more seriously.”

For the end of the 1st round and the score of Olympiakos: “We have great margins. I disagree that what we presented today was a good picture. We are in a position to claim the play offs and if we manage to have an advantage it will be important, that is the goal. We need more players to play consistently well. Some players who come are somewhat unprepared mentally, psychologically. Olympiacos needs them all. There are two players who pull the score and play more than everyone but they are all important. For example Fal was out for 15-20 days but he came in and was very important. Everyone has to make themselves ready to help ready even for two phases and that will develop into trust.”

On how players who have a smaller role in the rotation will fit in: “We try with individual meetings. There are some who are used to a different role, in a smaller team you will play 35 minutes and you will have the numbers you want and there is also this team that claims trophies and you have the goal of going far. You have to be positive, some children are affected, the human factor plays a role. Some are more hard and ready. It happens in all groups. If you ask a player who plays 25-30 minutes, he tells you that he cannot rest in the Greek league. It’s not possible, we need them all.”

On the inclusion of Evans: “Evans follows a program where he runs alone with 80% of his weight, on the special treadmill we have. He has lifted 10 high-rise weights to strengthen his legs, his condition is going very well because of his willpower and because of the very good surgery he had in Lithuania. In my opinion, he was among the three best guards in the EuroLeague last year. If he comes back and is healthy he will be very important. When you plan things in life you are denied, so let life itself bring them.”

For the defense of Olympiakos: “We go into more possessions, the other teams have improved. The game opens more easily, the more talented team often goes for risky choices which creates imbalances. Some players like Fal at the same time, you understand Walkup and Fal are our best defenders, Goss plays good defense always. Vezhenkov is not the same player as two years ago, he has come with a different status. Fournier has the status he has. We have to find some defensive fives but generally all games go to a lot of points. In 40 minutes there is a score of 108-96 does not mean that the teams are indifferent. Even the shots that Alba put in require a lot of talent. That’s it, we’re better offensively, we’re worse defensively, we’ll try to improve.”

For Mensah: “We are saying to put him on Sunday with Maroussi (s.s. laughs). Probably with Lavrio, since the kid will need to figure out where he is, but we need him. Milutinov was put under a lot of pressure, I have a lot of faith in him and his defense. An improvement can come from him.”