«We should play the perfect game»
Olympiacos plays against Barcelona on the road on Friday (11/1) for the 3rd day of the Euroleague and as Giorgos Bartzokas has admitted, the “reds” should play the perfect game to win.
The Greek coach stated that “we have a very difficult task ahead of us. Barcelona is among the best teams in Europe. They have a lot of pressure due to their defeat in the previous game and they are going to be absolutely prepared and ready. Should they lose a second game and especially one in their home court, they are going to be left behind, and this is something they absolutely want to avoid. We have to play the perfect game to win there and we are going to try to do it, make sure of it. We are looking for on the road victories and we are going to fight and get one of so as to come closer to our goad which is making the play-offs”.
About Juan Carlos Navarro the coach of the European and Greek Champions said that “Navarro is of big class. We are going to pay extra attention to him, not only because he’s the team’s central pillar, but it’s going to utopic to only focus on him since they are a team full of worthy players. Therefore, we are going to have to be a team in both offense and defense to manage and keep up with our plan”.
As for the psychology of the team going to Barcelona : “Psychology is often shaped by special circumstances. We want to win as many games as possible as early on in the competition. It’s going to be very interesting to focus on such a game and see how we are going to present ourselves as a team. I think that if we stay into the game till the last minutes, then there is a great possibility for us to win making some right decisions in the end”.
About the status of Josh Powell, the 47year old coach commented that “Powell has completely overcome his problem, he still has some nuances, but he’s a guy that will not easily stay out of the game due to pain”.
On the other hand, Josh Powell said that “I’m excited to be looking forward to such a big game like the one against Barcelona and we are ready for a big battle. We have to work right and as a team, in both the offensive and the defensive part. We are going to have to be patient in offense and follow the coach’s plan so as to contain the rhythm. There are no easy opponents in the Euroleague and no game is going to be an easy one. The situation in regard to my knee is becoming better every day, I follow treatment and I feel better every day”.