Bartzokas: «We must not relax»
Olympiacos made the break in the series vs Barcelona, but that's not enough. Tomorrow (26/04, 21:00 CET) will give it all to win game number 2.
«It's clear that must not relax», the coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas stressed. «From the start, our philosophy had been that we came here for one game, the one last night. Now we are going for game number 2. We never thought about the series as a whole and that's what us coaches are trying to have the players embrace. These series are long, unpredictable and there are always upsets. Experience and history attest to that. We have to focus solely on tomorrow's game and try to do the best we can to win».
Asked what it means to him that a win is not a 'must' following the break and if he thinks that the trip to Barcelona is already a success, he replied: : «I can't say if it's a success. We are not on an excursion. What we want to do is go to the Final 4, so our mission will be deemed successful if we succeed in doing that. In no case must we be complacent in tomorrow's game. We don't want to be thinking that our mission has been accomplished. We want to win tomorrow. We know how tough this is. It was also very tough last night. Barcelona is an incredible team, they have lots of experience, good players in every position and to win you have to play really well, be focused and it's not going to be easy at all».
On his part, Giannoulis Larentzakis made the following comments: «The game tomorrow is going to be a completely different one. The mindset is the same as yesterday. It was simply one win, we need two more to go to the Final 4. We will try to contest for the win again as if the game last night never happened».
About the two crucial free throws he made with 35'' on the clock when he was summoned to replace the injured Filip Petrusevn and what he was thinking at that moment, he said: «Nothing serious went through my mind. I know the coach trusts me, I trust in me, I felt I was going to make them, I went in and made them».
• Filip Petrusev underwent an MRI today (25/04), which was clear of findings. The Serbian forward, who got injured during the first quarter-final game in the knee did not practice today. His situation will be re-assessed tomorrow when it will be determined if he can play the second game or not.