Bartzokas: «A huge thank you to the fans»

In the press conference following the victory in the 1st Semifinal of the Basket League against AEK, Olympiacos' coach Giorgos Bartzokas thanked the fans who attended the game at SEF and also took the opportunity to express his gratitude to the team’s medical staff, whose efforts helped injured players return and contribute to the qualification for the Final Four.

In his opening remarks, he said: “I don’t have much to say about the game. A big thank you to the fans who came to see the team and to ‘thank’ them for qualifying for the Final Four. Our performance didn’t meet the expectations of the crowd - or mine - but I can understand why. It was a game where, when we went up by 13 points, we assumed it was over and started playing carelessly. We made many mistakes, and AEK hit some big shots. They're a good team; congratulations to them, and I wish them the best of luck in the Final Four. They’ve had an incredible season.”

When asked whether having only one more game before traveling to Abu Dhabi is helpful, he responded: “You never really know. We do only have one more game with AEK, but we need a bit of rest because those four games against Real [Madrid] were very intense. You know we got back at 7 a.m. on Friday after the game, and I think everyone can understand that today’s game, in the eyes of the players, was just something they had to go out and ‘get through.’ In the time we have now, we’ll have good practices, and I want to publicly give a big shout out to our medical staff, who did an outstanding job over the previous period to get our injured players back in shape and able to help us reach the Final Four.”