Bartzokas: «It was an important victory for us»

Our coach Giorgos Bartzokas commented the following on the win vs Zalgiris in Kaunas.

In his opening remarks, the Olympiacos coach emphasized the importance of the victory: “It was a very important victory for us. Although it is still early in the season, we have a very difficult schedule with several away games. We started with Baskonia, now we had Zalgiris, and Bologna is next. Whenever we have the opportunity to win games at this stage and gain time to build chemistry and improve, it is very important for us. It is always difficult for us here, and today was no different. Zalgiris made some very difficult shots, with Edwards and Brown. They played really well and found very good opportunities to score. I think we needed to play much better in terms of not rushing and being patient enough to find the best opportunity to score. We were rushing, and in the end our three-point percentage was very low. We did make the two threes that decided the game with Fournier, but if you look at our percentage, it was quite poor, especially considering that we have good shooters. We appreciate the victory, and congratulations to Zalgiris.”

Regarding Zalgiris’ performance and their prospects for the season, Bartzokas said: “Zalgiris is a very competitive team for the playoffs. They have the highest budget in their history and, at the same time, so much talent. Valanciunas was added to an already very strong team, and players like Tubelis are outstanding. I don’t see any weakness in the team. They will be competitive until the end of the season and will be fighting to make the playoffs.”

He also offered an update on Nikola Milutinov: “I was told today at practice that he was feeling much better, with less pain. He might play in the Greek league on Sunday. So, he may miss only the game against Bologna, but we cannot be certain. It is a day-to-day process.”