Papanikolaou: “We want to finish as high as possible” 

Olympiacos travels to Sofia to face Hapoel Tel Aviv, and just a few hours after the win over Real Madrid, Kostas Papanikolaou and Giorgios Bartzokas spoke about the second game of this double week.

In his opening statement about tomorrow’s game (April 9, 18:30 CET), Giorgios Bartzokas said: “We need to play based on the plan we managed to go over with the players this morning, in order to face a very talented and experienced team, in a somewhat unusual environment. The game comes after a big win for us, and we must forget it as quickly as possible so we can focus on the next one, which is equally important.”

Regarding Olympiacos’ performance at this stage of the season, Bartzokas noted: “This can only be evaluated positively. The fact that we play well for large stretches of the game and score a lot is something that has been built gradually. But this proves nothing if it is not accompanied by wins in the Playoffs and reaching the Final Four. Otherwise, it will just be a story. For now, however, it is an evolution in how we play, which satisfies us because it is the product of hard work.”

When asked to comment on Dorsey’s performance, the coach said: “I wouldn’t like to comment, just as I didn’t when Vezenkov or Fournier scored a lot. It’s very positive for a player to score that much, but as you know, I always evaluate what we do as a team. And overall, we scored 102 points; we have the best offense in the EuroLeague and the Greek league, which means our team is functioning well on both ends.”

On how important it is to limit Micic and Bryant, he said: “We believe these two players are obviously very capable, but we’ve concluded that Jones and Blakeney are key in the games they win. Their big men are also very talented offensively, so you can’t focus on just a few players. Clearly, it requires team effort in all aspects of the game and contributions from everyone to stop such a talented offensive team.”

On his part, Kostas Papanikolaou said about the game: “In every game, we play to win; we don’t do it for first or second place. We want to finish as high as possible. If that’s first place, great. If it’s second, that’s fine too. It’s another game we want to win against a very quality team, without a doubt. We will have our fans by our side, so together we will fight for the victory.”

Regarding Tyler Dorsey’s performance against Real, the captain added: “It’s very important for every team to have players who can deliver performances like that, and Tyler has had many this season. It’s a big advantage for the team because it helps achieve the desired results, along with contributions from others. It’s always important to have players capable of such nights, because big games require big performances.”