Bartzokas: “The players are professionals and are paid for all the games, not only for the Euroleague ones”

Olympiacos struggled a lot in their home match against Laurelfinally managing to take the win 87-77, for the 12th game of the Stoiximan GBL.

In statements he made after the end of the match at SEF, the coach of the “red and whites”, George Bartzokasexpressed his strong concern for the performance of his players, but gave them the… alibi of consecutive games, while also referring to the debut of Mensah and that of Evans which… is coming.

In detail what the coach of Olympiakos said:



“I wish all basketball fans health, that the year will be better for society, for sports, for the country. Repeating the situation, we played walking. We were forced to push again in the second half. Everyone plays without pressure here, we have to play aggressively, put our hands in defense. We will continue to push ourselves in these games and have difficulties.”.

On what causes the laxity of the players: “Because we play 85-90 games, it’s impossible to play in all of them with the same intensity. It’s a big thing to motivate, but the players are professionals and they get paid for all the games, not just the Euroleague ones. It’s how you sleep the night before, how you wake up. The opponent has nothing to lose, Maroussi, Peristeri, today Lavrio. Six to seven thousand people came on Sunday afternoon for the festivities and did not enjoy any special spectacle”.

For Evans and Mensah: “Keenan Evans is running normally and it is very good news for our team, I thank the staff and him, he wants to show his value which is very great. I am happy with Mensah, we took him in Milan to see the speed of the game, once he adapts he will help us, he is a very good defender and rebounder, I think he will be one of the players who will help us a lot”.

For Zalgiris: “We’re not done yet, we’re going to go to a pitch that’s going to be boiling and we’re going to play our game. We’re up but it’s early, we’re looking game by game”.