Bartzokas and Pap talk about Armani Milan
New Year, new round! Olympiacos will be hosting EA7 Emporio Armani Milan tomorrow (02/01, 20.15 CET) at the SEF, for the first game of Euroleague's B' round.
"Happy New Year to everyone! I wish everyone a good and healthy year!", was what the coach of the 'red & whites' Giorgos Bartzokas wished before talking about the game vs the Italian team. "As you know, our schedule starts tomorrow, with the first game of the Euroleague's second round, with Milan, that is in good momentum. Regardless of whether they lost for the Italian League and if they are missing some players, they have been winning with big margins, for instance Villeurbanne at home, or Barcelona on the road, as well as Baskonia. They also lost to Partizan for one possession. They seem to be in good shape. They are very experienced, they play with lots of physicality and with great intensity in defense. They have a huge coach. Any kind of a lesser approach on our part will be catastrophic. It's a game we want to win, to start the new year with a home win, with our fans. We must be ready for the important things that are required in these games, which are always the simple ones. That is, with how much intensity you play, how you follow your plan, the challenged balls in the rebounds, not allowing them possessions and reading the game correctly. We have to stick by our game plan which is necessary against teams that know how to read into situations well".
Asked whether Thomas Walkup will be available (the American guard was injured yesterday during the game against Aris), he answered: "He had treatment today, but he's not practicing. The sprain doesn't seem to be a heavy one. He has a small swelling; he's been having treatments and we are going to know more tomorrow. I think that he's probably going to play. If he doesn't, it's going to be because it will be practically impossible".
Kostas Papanikolaou also began his statements wishing for the New Year: "Happy New Year to everyone. Tomorrow, we have the game with Armani. It's going to be hard. It's the first game of the new Year. We want to start with a win, continue our effort strong into the second round. We are playing a compact team, a very strong one, a very physical one. We must be ready both in physical strength but also in the mental aspect of our effort. It's going to be a forty minutes battle and we must give all our energy so that we win".
The experienced forward also extended an open invitation to the Olympiacos' fans: "We hope to have our fans by our side. I understand it's still a festive season, but we really need their help and I hope we have a packed SEF so that we can get the win together".