Bartzokas: «When we played well on both ends of the floor, we won the game»
In the post game following the win in Thessaloniki over Aris, Olympiacos' coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, talked about the particulars of the game that was held only two days after the win in Kaunas.
His initial statement: « Happy New Year to everone, I wish Aris to overcome their injury problems, find cohesion and have a good remaining season. For us, it was a game after our winning one Thursday night in Kaunas, and it also involved a trip, so our mission today was quite difficult because we had to stay focused against a team that always has motive to play well against us. Aris shot with 50% in the first half, many of those very tough shots as well. I have told my players that the opponents play with great energy and motivation against us and without any pressure. When we played well in the third quarter on both ends of the floor, we built a +20 lead and won the game. We had 29 assists for 13 turnovers and scored 38 points that came from the opponent's turnovers. It was hard to lose under these circumstances».
Asked about Tyler Dorsey's playing time: «How a player receives the information, how he digests it and how he executes it on the floor is process that takes players with all teams and all players. It has to do with how much you stay with the plan. Whoever stays with Olympiacos' plan, will be playing and will be playing a lot, its a fact for a long time now».
Asked about using Vezenkov and Fall when Aris dropped the difference to 11 points: «It's a matter of motivation, we had won an important road game for the Euroleague 2 days before that put us in first place and we are coming here simply to pass a couple of hours and leave. And when we realize it takes effort, then we are serious about the game. We played good basketball for about 10 minutes and from then on we just wanted to put in the minimum amount of effort and avoid getting tired, so it's obviously a matter of motivation but also the opponent's ability to create problems for you».
In terms of guarding the perimeter and the fact that Olympiacos had problems in that area both in Kaunas and against Aris: «Aris has been playing with a very particular way and although our players had been prepared for what they were about to face, we thought that if someone has 3 fouls on us, we must try to score in his face to 'punish' him, while you just have to leave your emotions at bay and move the ball. When we did that, we won».