Bartzokas and Vezenkov comment on the friendly against Crvena Zvezda
Olympiacos defeated Crvena Zvezda 89–87 in Cyprus, and Giorgos Bartzokas and Sasha Vezenkov made comments immediately after the game about Olympiacos’ pre-season, their readiness and more.
Asked about Olympiacos’ level of readiness, Giorgos Bartzokas said: “Obviously, our game today was not good. Having in mind the game when we beat them by 20 points, perhaps we thought it would be easy. A EuroLeague game is never easy. Our defensive intensity, focus and tactics were at a low level, which allowed them to start scoring a lot from 3-point range. In the first half, they had made 8 three-pointers and also had six free throws resulting from two other three-point attempts, while for a large part of the game they were shooting at around 60%. With numbers like that, it is difficult to win. We had to improve defensively in the fourth quarter, when we allowed just 11 points. We changed our defensive tactics a little, but we also found a bit more rhythm, which gave us opportunities offensively to take the lead and ultimately win the game.”
Regarding what he takes away from the game, the Olympiacos head coach said: “We played a game that gives us a lot to discuss regarding how we need to defend. What kind of intensity we need to bring, how much pressure we need to put on the ball. We have to create deflections, because if we allow the opponents’ playmakers to see the court so clearly, their shooters will be able to shoot without pressure and hence with comfort. That is why they had such high percentages. Secondly, we need to improve our defensive rotations and, thirdly, our performance in 50-50 situations. We lost a lot of long rebounds. The fact that we won is something positive, because you always play to win, even in a friendly. We won a game in which we did not play well, so at least we are happy about that.”
Sasha Vezenkov, meanwhile, initially spoke about the discomfort he felt in his elbow: “I’m not at 100% yet. We are working on it, but unfortunately, we don’t have the time for anything else. I have to play through it. I don’t like having something bothering me, but that’s part of sports. On the other hand, we weren’t good today, especially defensively. But I believe that through the few practices we have and the games we play, we will improve and find our chemistry as quickly as possible.”
Asked about the importance of playing strong opponents during the preseason, the EuroLeague MVP said: “It’s very good. These are the kind of friendly games we need, against teams that have the same or similar goals to ours. The official games start next week, so we have to be ready for them.”