Bartzokas: «It hurts because we believed we could win»
In the post game Press Conference following the loss to Dubai, Giorgos Bartzokas made the following comments:
«First of all, I would like to congratulate Dubai for the win. They played a good game today. They have great offensive talent and we should have played much better defense, if we had wanted to win. We did play much better in the 3rd and 4th quarter and we had the chance to win the game, but we made a couple of very hasty decisions. Despite running the last offensive play of the game and both teams were in the foul-bonus, we hit a shot with Dorsey who was heavily guarded and one more with Fournier and they weren't the best decisions to end the game. A three by Fournier sent us to the overtime, but then, after Walkup's initial 3-pointer, we got it all wrong. All the shots, all the choices we made were under pressure. We missed all our shots and at the same time, Dubai gained confidence with their really talented offensive players, so we lost the game. It's ok, it's a road defeat. It hurts us because we believed we would win, but that's basketball».
Asked about the decisions that deprived Olympiacos from winning the game in the overtime, Bartzokas replied: «I'm not making the decisions, the players do. Coaches make decisions during the time-outs. Talented players on our roster, like Fournier or Dorsey or a mistake Vezenkov made following a defensive rebound decided the game. Sometimes it simply has to do with whether you make a shot or not. I can't complain about my players. They make decisions and choices, they take shots and they may miss. It's ok. I can't complain about it».
Then, Giorgos Bartzokas answered about what could have made a difference in the overtime: «Obviously, when you lose a game, you think you could have done many things differently. That's basketball, a game of mistakes. We started the overtime with a 3-pointer by Walkup and should have played better defense. We received 2 free throws from Wright and then a couple of buckets by Bacon and then we were under pressure with each one of our shots».