"It\u2019s up to us to play well"
Olympiacos, after analyzing the loss to Valencia in depth, has now left it behind him and is now focusing on tomorrow’s game (18/12, 20.00 CET) against Real Madrid at the SEF, for the 15th round of the Euroleague.
Our team’s coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, will be deprived of the services of Giorgos Printezis (lower back spasm), while Kostas Papanikolaou – who did not play in the game against Valencia (wry neck) – is running against time to make the game against the Madrid team.
Following two huge road wins, the ‘reds’ were removed from their good selves against the ‘taronjas’. Asked about the reasons for the lack of consistency, coach Bartzokas commented: “I don’t know if it’s due to the coronavirus, if it’s due to the absence of the fans that can always bring extra motivation, even if the fans are against you. Right now, if we take out the recent games of CSKA, no team seems to be consistent. All teams have great victories and great losses. For me, the only thing 100% certain with the Euroleague, is that if you are complacent, you will lose. Anyone to anyone else. If you don’t come on the court ready, both mentally and physically, you will lose. It may be that the first can lose to the last one and the results are testament enough. We had been very good a week ago and now we are very bad. It’s up to us to play well in the next game. We have this chance, because we have a game tomorrow. I still believe in our team. Of course, we are neither invincible or immune to loss. But, we have a good group of players, that have been working at a very good level quality wise. We also have to surpass a few other things, that we all know which they are exactly… I’m talking about the fact that we don’t participate the national league, with all the pros and cons of this condition. From there on, what we seek is to be more consistent. Because following two very good games, we played a very bad one in every aspect and we need to get it together”.
Usually – and especially during double games weeks – what coaches try to do, following either big wins or big losses, is to ‘erase’ the previous game from their players’ minds. Giorgos Bartzokas, nevertheless, has followed a new path this time… “Today, we dedicated our time, contrary to what we usually do, to last night’s game. You always need to forget what happened the day before, so as to move to the day ahead. However, it was the first time we analyzed what we did last night, more than focusing on what we are going to be doing against Real tomorrow. Tomorrow, we are going to have two meetings about Real, one in the morning, and one in the evening. Right now, all the players and the coaching staff, had to make our assessment as to why we played the way we did last night. In my opinion, as well as that of my associates, it was very important that we analyzed the reasons for our performance, the reasons we played that wat. What we agreed upon and it should be a given, apart from the tactical analysis, is to realize that we cannot not be fighting for every ball. That’s what’s been asked from every Euroleague team. I repeat, if you are complacent, you are going to be paying for every play you deal with complacency. That’s what the Euroleague is”.
«Yesterday we lost, tomorrow we have to win»
Kostas Sloukas said about tomorrow’s game: “We need to leave the loss to Valencia behind us. If you ask me, this was a bad loss. After two very good results, this was a game we should have won. We have to go on. We play against a very good team, Real Madrid and it’s a game we also need to win and it’s going to be very significant if we succeed doing so”.
On what Olympiacos need to change of correct for the game against Real compared to how they played against Valencia, he said: “Real is not a different team. They have a lot in common with Valencia. They are a very talented team offensive wise. If our approach is the same as the one in the game against Valencia, then we are going to have a problem. Our defense was very bad in last night’s game. We almost received 100 points and with these kind of numbers and percentages, it’s almost improbable that we win. We have to be tougher and certainly, we need to control the tempo of the game”.
Asked whether the fact that Olympiacos has never lost two back to back games during a double games week is an extra motivation for him and his teammates, he replied: “I hadn’t know about that and I’m totally indifferent to it. I’m looking at one game at a time and the same goes for my teammates. Yesterday we lost, tomorrow we have to win”.