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Bartzokas: "You need to play well if you want to win"

With fourteen players and a charter flight, Olympiacos flew today (04/11) to St. Petersburg, where tomorrow (5/11, 18.00 CET), will be playing against Zenit for the 7th round of the Euroleague.

“This game is a riddle, because Zenit has only played one game for the Russian League following the break due to the coronavirus, a game they won by a 40 point margin. Of course, this is not a criterion to help us determine their level of readiness”, the ‘reds’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas stated and continued: “They are a very good team, they have some good characteristics and many good shooters at the perimeter. Of course, one road game for the Euroleague is always difficult, especially in Russia”.

Asked whether his team has been impacted by the recent results, he replied: “When you lose games, it is many times that you seem more energized in the following ones and you play with greater intensity because you want to correct what went wrong. However, other times, when you win, the atmosphere is good and you are more complacent, just like it happened with us against Bayern. At this moment, each game is unique, a different country, city, team, players, coaches… Everything is different. It’s a strange situation for all of us and this game is going to have difficulties, just like everything else with the Euroleague. It’s a road game and we need to play well if we want to win”.

"It’s going to be war"

On his part, Hassan Martin pointed out: “I think that the key is to make a strong beginning. We were slow in the start of the previous two games. So, we need to paly with intensity and be aggressive with our defense. Our opponent has some good shooters and athletic big players, so we need to be ready to confront them”.

On whether the losses to Bayern and Anadolu Efes have impacted his psychology and that of his teammates, he commented: “I wouldn’t say so, nevertheless we desperately want to win. We have had a week of very good practicing and I’m optimistic for the victory. We all need to be ready to fight and play according to our potential. It’s still very early in the season and our defeats have not had such a huge impact, but, as I said before, we need to win desperately”.

When asked about the Russian team’s front line, he said: “Poythress is athletic and protects the rim well. We are going to have to play strong defense on him to contain him. Just like I said, we need to be ready to fight. It’s going to be war”.