Bartzokas: «Congratulations to the players and the fans» (vid)
In the post-game press conference following Olympiacos’ win over Real, head coach Giorgos Bartzokas and Thomas Walkup - who returned to action after nearly three months on the sidelines - shared their thoughts on the game against the Madrilène .
Coach Giorgos Bartzokas stated in his opening remarks: "I'll use the cliché expression: it’s just 1-0. In the past three years, we’ve lost the second game. It’s always a battle, you need to stay focused on the court and forget what happened in Game 1. Today was a very serious performance from us, both offensively and defensively. Our fans were amazing. It was a classic playoff game between two great teams, full of physicality, intensity, and energy. Congratulations to the players and the fans. Let’s now prepare for the next game."
On maintaining double-digit leads, he said: "You can never relax against Real. You saw the tough shots Llull made; they have the quality and experience. Even though we didn’t have our best shooting night and missed some open looks, we forced them into 19 turnovers with our defense and managed to win the game."
When asked about the MVP of the regular season being awarded to Kendrick Nunn, Bartzokas responded: "In our team, we remain humble and take nothing for granted. Nunn won the MVP award and probably deserved it, but if it were up to me, I would’ve picked Sasha (Vezenkov) for that honor. Players of Vezenkov’s quality have nothing left to prove individually. He came back here after his NBA experience to stay with Olympiacos and win titles, and that helps all of us take a step forward. I’m happy with the way he’s showing up in these games."
Thomas Walkup initially stated: "We played a good game. We were physical on defense, and executed well both offensively and defensively. We had some bad moments, but overall, we played with pace, physicality, and a lot of energy" before adding "The fans helped us a lot to win this game. But the real challenge is the second game. As you know, in each of the past three seasons, we lost the second one."