Bartzokas: «We must prove we are a strong team»
Giorgos Bartzokas spoke at the press conference following Olympiacos’ home defeat to Valencia.
In his opening remarks about the game, the team’s head coach stated: “It was a disappointing result for us. Losing a game at home is very tough, but we must analyse why we lost. We knew that Valencia would play at this incredible pace, but in the last quarter we lost by 16 points. What happened at that point? We stopped moving the ball quickly, as we had been doing earlier against this aggressive defence on our ball handlers. So instead of passing the ball quickly and finding options through movement, we decided to overdribble. That made it easier for them to attack the ball. When we were moving the ball, we had a 13-point lead. I don’t know what happened. Sometimes we need to analyse what each player needs to do to fulfill his role.
I can’t also avoid mentioning the fact that we missed several open shots. I remember 6 or 7 completely open 3-pointers. We lost, but now we need to prove to ourselves and to everyone in the basketball community that we are a strong team. We need to bounce back, play hard in the next game and win. We haven’t forgotten how to play basketball; we have good players. We just need to stay positive. Take it game by game, whether we win or lose. It’s a difficult period for us and we need to find ourselves.”
Bartzokas then answered a question regarding the mental readiness of certain players and whether specific rotations did not work: “There are players who have been tested at the highest EuroLeague level and others who are not, but who have all the qualities to get there, and they need to go through a process. That process starts with the mental approach, understanding what each person has to do on the court, rather than simply relying on talent. Talent alone is not enough in the EuroLeague. Right now, you need to be solid, and through that, express your talent. Obviously, you mean that when Walkup went out, the team immediately lost speed, creation, defence, etc. I don’t like to personalize this issue. With the pace Valencia plays, players cannot keep up for 40 minutes. You have to use rotations. In those rotations, we faced problems, and that is true.”
Afterwards, the coach responded to a question about Olympiacos’ consistently poor defence, the absence of Giannoulis Larentzakis, and the players’ minutes, commenting: “If we look at our minutes and exclude Vezenkov, who played 32, I don’t see anyone else who played more than 30 minutes. I want to remind you that many people say I “coach with a clock.” At the moment, teams that play at very high intensity put lineups on the floor and make substitutions, and those changes are not always made by the head coach, but by an assistant from behind who signals that substitutions are needed based on time. I was criticized in the past for coaching by the clock, right? Now I have to be criticized for doing the opposite. Based on the result, every decision I make is wrong when we lose and right when we win. I make my decisions before anything happens, and afterwards, even if you don’t intend to judge harshly, you can say anything and be right.
As for Giannoulis Larentzakis, you know, the best player is always the one who doesn’t play. I haven’t spoken about any player positively or negatively. I want the players who are on the court to follow the game plan. I judged that with those particular players on the floor tonight we would be able to attack the game.”