Bartzokas: «It was one more good night»
The coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas, congratulated everyone that had a part in the victory over Maccabi that kept his team at the top of the ranking.
“I can’t say it was a stressful win, because we were leading the score, following our bad defensive performance in the first quarter. We were leading by 16 and we could have sealed the victory even easier, but they ‘hurt’ us with the offensive rebounds. They got 16. We knew that Maccabi is one of the top teams in the League in the area of offensive rebounding and that’s why we should have been better in that part of the game. It was one of the issues we had talked about with the players before the game. We had told them that we should not be giving them second chances. We were good defense wise in every other part of the game and we were also good in offence. I think we played an unselfish game, we moved the ball, found open shots and if we had been a little better with our three-pointer percentages and we hadn’t missed so many free throws, we could have scored more than 100 points. But that doesn’t mean anything. I have no complaints. It was one more good night for us. Congratulations to my players and to the fans. We keep going…”
Asked about Sloukas’ condition, he replied: “I really don’t know. He suffered a muscle spasm in his lower back and tomorrow he’s going to have his situation assessed. He will probably have an MRI. I don’t think it’s anything too serious, it’s simply something that did not allow him continue tonight”.
On his part, Maccabi’s coach, Oded Kattash, pointed out: “We made a very good beginning in the game, but I think the game was lost in the second quarter. We weren’t focused in our defense and did not make the right decisions in the offence. I did not like anything we did in the second quarter, not even my players’ body language. We adjusted in the second half and fought. We never gave up and that’s what I like. It’s a big season and we need to learn from this type of games. We showed we can compete with the best team of the Euroleague even in their home court”.