Bartzokas: «We are looking forward to the final»

Giorgos Bartzokas commented on the semifinal vs Fenerbahce at the press conference following his team's winning game.

In his opening statement after the game, the Olympiacos coach said: “First of all, I would like to congratulate our players and our fans for this performance. It was the first step of this weekend. We wanted to play all together, as a team. That’s what we’ve been doing throughout the entire season from the very beginning. We set the tone and played great defense from the start against this excellent Fenerbahce team. In the end, we stayed solid defensively for all 40 minutes and managed our emotions well, because in the first half we forced some offensive decisions. In the second half, we moved the ball much better and found opportunities to score, whether through 3-pointers, drives, or our big men. We are looking forward to the final.”

Regarding Olympiacos’ performance in the semifinal, the coach said: “I think every team builds confidence through the way it plays over the course of the season. When one player trusts the teammate next to him, and when you have such good practices for 15–20 days, when you see how focused everyone is on fulfilling their role, and when everyone has quality and you have 15 players on the roster, then the key question becomes chemistry. But everyone puts their ego below the team, and that is very positive for us.”

Speaking about Thomas Walkup’s defense on Fenerbahce’s Horton-Tucker, Bartzokas said: “Walkup set the tone. You could see him sacrificing himself on every possession to stop his opponent. In the first half, we overplayed offensively against Fenerbahce’s switching defense. We had prepared for certain situations, but we didn’t execute them.”

Referring to the moment when the Turkish team got back into the game, the coach commented: “When a team cuts the lead to 9p., the way you start the third quarter becomes very important. We immediately pushed the lead back close to 20, hence removing whatever pressure we might have felt. Fenerbahce tried two or three times to come back into the game, through Horton-Tucker, Biberovic, and Baldwin, but I think you have to go through many challenges in a game in order to win it. You need to stay solid and keep your head on straight, not let success go to your head.”