Bartzokas: «Zalgiris is not invincible»
Olympiacos left for Kaunas, where tomorrow (04/02, 19.00 CET), will be playing against Zalgiris for the 23rd round of the Euroleague.
The injured Giorgos Printezis (rib cage) and Vassilis Chralampopoulos (ankle surgery) did not travel with the team. The 17 year old Alexandros Nikolaidis was included in the delegation.
“It’s an away game and you need to play well to win”, the ‘reds’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, stressed. “There are many things that you need to be paying attention to, especially the small details that can give one team the victory, while, if you don’t, they can make you lose. We need to also consider the parameter of a very animated audience, that is very supportive of the home team. Zalgiris has had the same coach for years and has been playing according to his philosophy. But I don’t think they are invincible. I believe that if we have a good performance we have serious chances at winning”.
Asked how much the absence of Printezis impacts Olympiacos’ game, he replied: “Everyone understands how much it affects us, if you only look at his averages in points, facilitation and rebounds. That’s what we need to be covering for. We succeeded in doing that in the previous games, it’s going to be interesting to see if we can do it in this one as well”.
About the Lithuanian’s physical game and on how his team should be reacting to it, he said: “You need to be mentally tough, not so much physically wise. ‘Toughness’ is a given in all Euroleague games. Zalgiris is a team that plays with contacts. You need to remain mentally strong so as not to get carried away by the atmosphere and the way they play and stay true to your game. If you do that, you have your chances. I don’t think they are team impossible to beat”.
He was then asked if tomorrow’s game is a “final” for the ‘reds’. “There is no such word as a ‘final’ in our locker rooms. At this moment, you need to be winning each one of your games. Olympiacos does not have the luxury to be losing games that he’s supposed to win. I’m not saying it’s a game we need to win, but each game from this point on has that kind of feeling to us. We need to be effective on both ends of the floor, stay true to our plan and not panic. We need to ‘strike’ the game to win”.
On his part, Octavius Ellis pointed out: “We need to stay together, to give 100% in every possession, and never give up the fight. We need to stay focused and follow the coach’s plan to the letter. We need to be listening to the leader on the floor, follow our coaches’ orders and stay together as a team to get the result we want”.