Bartzokas: “At this stage we have the pressure”

In patience, but also in the limitation of Lekavitsios and her good shooters Zalgirisyielded the George Bartzokas his victory Olympic.

From there on, the coach of the “red and whites” stressed that his team now has the pressure in this part of the season.

«As always the game here in Kaunas was a really great event! The fans always support their team, which always plays with motivation and desire. I had said before the match that Zalgiris is in excellent momentum and is playing really well, especially now that it has Lovern back in rotation. All the players know basketball, they pass the ball and of course he has a coach, Jure Zdovch, who in my opinion does a great job. We knew it would be a difficult match for us. Now, we have to win all the games and play against some teams that do not have hopes of qualifying for the playoffs, but they have good players, and they remain good teams, with good coaches. This is how the Euroleague is, but at this stage we have the pressure. We have to adapt to it, that is, to play under pressure. To qualify for the playoffs, if you want to finish in regular time in a very good position, you have to play under pressure“, The Greek coach initially stated and added:

«Congratulations to my players. We achieved a very good victory. I think we showed stability in our game both defensively and offensively, but at the end of the match, we found a lot of open shots, we had patience, creation, we played for each other in defense and attack and we controlled the attacking game of Zalgiris and the creation of. We also stopped Lekavitsios and the other good shooters he has. Congratulations and good luck in Zalgiris».

Asked how he “justifies” the number of offensive rebounds his team has collected, he replied: “It is a combination of two things. One is that Zalgiris decided to play defense with changes in the end and its tall ones came out to our ball handler. So, the tall ones came out. We also missed a lot of shots. We finished with 30% on three-pointers, a low percentage for us. Especially when you want to win away from home, you have to have higher percentages. I think that mainly had to do with the defense with changes that they decided to play. We were consistent in this part, our tall Fal, Martin, Vezenkov I did a very good job in this».

As to whether he “looks” at the scoreboard and whether he has entered the process of … scenarios for what Olympiacos can finish, he replied: “To tell the truth, at the beginning of the season it was not our goal to end with a home advantage. We are out of the playoffs, if I am not mistaken, three seasons, so our goal was to be in the 8th team again. In the Euroleague you can not look far. You need to focus on the next workout, the next game. Looking at the program and saying we can win there or maybe lose there is completely wrong in my opinion. My philosophy is to concentrate on the next match. This makes it easier for the players as well. If you do not do it is like having to climb a mountain, with such a difficult program, so many difficult games and difficult opponents. We have four games until the end of the regular season and all of them are difficult matches. We have the Greek derby with Panathinaikos ahead of us and it is never an easy match. They had the whole week to prepare, while we gave an intense match today. So we have to focus on this game. We have four more, Barcelona and Panathinaikos inside, Monaco and Villeurbanne outside … No match is easy».

When asked to comment on the “ceasefire” of Russian groups, but also on the war in Ukraine, he stressed: “I worked in Russia in two different teams, Lokomotiv and Khimki. The Euroleague is the one that makes the decisions. At the end of March, on the 20th, we will know if they will leave the event for this year or not … They will probably leave. As for the issue of war, there is no doubt that it should not be done … I do not want to talk about such issues, because I become really emotional. When you see children losing their parents or their lives … I am really saddened by all this. Like everyone else, I pray that the war will end. War is never the solution».

Finally, when asked for a comment on the possibility that this will be the last year on the floor of Yankounas and Printezis, he said: “They have my utmost respect. I do not know how many years Yankounas has been playing in the Euroleague. Giorgos has been playing in the Euroleague with Olympiakos for 21 years and I do not know how many in total in the organization. It’s really hard. Sometimes I ask him if it is boring to have the same routine for so many years. Being a champion and being at this level for so many years is not easy. It is not easy at any level … For your mental and mental health, for your body … They have my absolute respect. Last year we had Spanoulis who stopped at 39. At Olympiakos we respect everything they have given to our team, great titles, great victories, fame … Printezis is our leader and everyone loves him, because apart from being an excellent player, he is also Olympiacos fan. What I want to say is that whatever they decide on their future, I will wish them good luck».

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