Bartzokas: «We won thanks to our defense and rebounding» (vid)

Olympiacos defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 62–58 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium (SEF) in Round 8 of the EuroLeague, earning their fifth win of the season. After the game, head coach Giorgos Bartzokas spoke at the post-game press conference about his team’s hard-fought victory.

In his opening statement, Bartzokas said: “First of all, congratulations to our fans who filled the arena and supported the team. From that perspective, it was a very important win after our loss two days ago. We were unfortunate to face the top team in the standings, a team with a lot of offensive talent, as the numbers show. Even though we had a very poor offensive performance, with 16 turnovers, bad shooting percentages from both two and three points, and several poor shot selections, in the end, thanks to our defense and rebounding, we managed to win the game; something very important for us.

I told my players at halftime that there’s no reason to feel so much pressure. It’s still October, only the start of the season, and we’ll play many tough games against great opponents. On the other hand, the constant schedule of Wednesday - Friday - Sunday games takes away from the beauty of the sport. Tonight, you saw two very good teams play some ugly basketball, I think. And when I say ‘ugly,’ I don’t mean the low score; a 62 - 58 game can still be a great game. But when you make silly mistakes, miss layups, and have six airballs on open three-pointers, it says something. In any case, we won tonight, and that’s what matters.”

Later, Bartzokas was asked about his team’s tendency to rush 3-point shots and whether he attributes that to pressure. He replied: “I’d say it has partly to do with what the opponent gives us, but also with our own impatience to find our rhythm as a team. We have several very talented offensive players, but everyone needs to understand that when you face a team like Hapoel, which executes quickly in its first offensive action, you have to attack later, in the second or third action, because they practice defending that kind of basketball. In almost every possession where we were patient, we scored. Whenever we rushed to shoot early, we didn’t. That’s something we need to manage; I personally have to make it happen, and gradually the players must accept that they’ll shoot with better percentages and the team will win more if they don’t rush to show their offensive talent.”

WATCH IN THE VIDEO BELOW EVERYTHING THAT WAS SAID DURING THE PRESS CONFERENCE