Jones: «Virtus plays even faster»
Just a few hours after their road win in Kaunas, Olympiacos traveled to Bologna, where they will face Virtus Bologna tomorrow (October 1, 20:30 CET ) for the 3rd Round of the EuroLeague. Ahead of the game, Olympiacos head coach Giorgos Bartzokas and center Tyrique Jones spoke about the matchup during the team’s final practice.
Regarding the game against Virtus, Bartzokas said: “They are a particularly competitive team this year, and that comes from their very good defense. We consider them to be a very good defensive team, and a very athletic one. Offensively, they play a style of basketball that is not as methodical, I would say, but their defense gives them opportunities to attack in transition. We really believe that, especially in Italy with their home crowd, this is a difficult game. Obviously, we also have to take into account that, if I’m not mistaken, this is our fifth game in seven days. So that is a factor we have to take very seriously.”
Asked whether the team has enough energy left after so many consecutive games, Bartzokas said: “We’ll find out. We’re trying to do the best we can. The players who have played a lot of minutes recently had the day off today and will only do a shootaround tomorrow. Others, simply because they haven’t played much, will have a normal practice. We’re trying to manage the players’ fatigue because, as you know, we’re traveling, we arrived late, and we’re constantly changing hotels. It’s a challenge in front of us. Every home court is difficult and the teams are very competitive. That’s the EuroLeague. It’s a welcome challenge for all of us to prepare for these games, always have motivation and play well. Nevertheless, as we’ve said before, it’s important to win at this stage because you know that wins are very important. There is always a small number, a small difference between wins and losses that eventually determines playoff positions. And we feel that all the teams fighting for the playoffs have the ability. We hope to be ready physically and reduce the number of mistakes. It’s not only turnovers, the balls we gave to the opponent yesterday, but also defensive, tactical and concentration mistakes that we made yesterday and need to improve.”
On Corey Joseph’s condition, the Greek coach said: “He will practice normally. Yesterday, our goal was not to push him in the first game and for him to play a secondary role, unless something else came up. He will be with the team normally tomorrow.”
On his rotation decisions and different lineups, Bartzokas explained: "“I’m also trying to discover some lineups that are effective. Many times, the decisions a coach makes during a game are also related to the confidence you want to give certain players. For example, if some players haven’t played well, I may not want to take them out quickly. I’d rather give them the opportunity to find their rhythm. There were players who didn’t start the game well but helped as the game progressed. In the second half, we tried to coach according to the circumstances of the game and not so much according to the clock. That’s why Ward was playing well and stayed on the floor for a long time until the end. If I’m not mistaken, he played all 20 minutes. The idea was to enter the final stretch fresh, but also with the best possible lineup for that particular game and that particular day.”
Regarding Jean Montero and how well he has adapted to Olympiacos’ style of basketball, he said: “He is the type of player where I never have the slightest feeling, either in practice or in games, that he is forcing things. I never feel that he is taking a shot against a difficult defense just for the sake of it. The way he finds his way around the court and moves in space allows most of the decisions he makes to come without a defender directly on him. He also has the ability to use his dribble to get to the spaces he wants. At the same time, he has very good court vision; he sees the passes and the players he needs to find. I feel that he doesn’t force anything and can be so impactful. Last season at Valencia, he didn’t play more than 22–23 minutes per game. It’s not as if he needs 35 minutes to put up numbers. That also shows his ability. I think I’m talking a lot about him now, at the beginning of the season, and I probably shouldn’t, because I don’t want to single him out from the other players. But I really have the feeling that he has this kind of talent that he puts at the service of the team and doesn’t play at the expense of the team.”
Tyrique Jones also spoke about the matchup with Virtus Bologna: “Virtus plays fast, maybe even faster than the team we played yesterday [Zalgiris]. Both we and them played a day ago. We have to execute our coach’s game plan and we’ll get the win. If you look at Olympiacos over the last 5 years, they’re a team that wins. It’s in their DNA. The fans never get tired of winning, and we never get tired of winning.”
Asked about facing Jonas Valanciunas, Jones said: “Both things are difficult; traveling every day and playing against Jonas Valanciunas. We’re Olympiacos; we have a giant of our own, Milutinov. Just practicing with him every day prepares me to play against players like Valanciunas. It was difficult, but we got the win as a team.”