Bartzokas: «Papanikolaou's record is even more important than the win»
In the postgame following the big win over Baskonia, our team's coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, talked about the importance of the result as well as about the Kostas Papanikolaou's record for games played.
His initial statement: «The game was as we had expected it to be. Noone on the staff thought that following the loss to Girona Baskonia would not be ready to play a hard game tonight. They have an excellent coach, they have talent, they have athleticism and they proved that on the floor, so it was very difficult for us. Especially without Thomas Walkup who always sets the defensive tone. Our defense wasn't good in terms of how critical the game was and that's why we allowed the opponent to score so many points and play a very good game. But, we remained consistent in terms of wanting to win the game. When we were trailing by 10, we had a quick response and it practically boiled down to a couple of plays at the end, we were lucky, we won the game and it was big. I think this was one of the most important wins of the season. We still rank first, we won 4 out of our 5 last road games, even tonight, when we did not play one of our best games. Congratulations to my players and a big thank you to our fans who traveled here to support us. For us, tonight is very big, since Kostas Papanikolaou, our captain, has reached 350 games played with our team, the most by any player in our European history. I bow to him for always being consistent and a leader on and off the court, he helps the team to be successful during his whole tenure with us. That's even more important than tonight's win».
Asked about the defense and how the win was achieved: «Our defense was bad tonight. We scored many points, we have the talent, we have players like Evan Fournier, Sasha Vezenkov and Goss and McKissic. But tonight, we allowed for anything coach Laso had in his mind to come to pass on the floor. We did not have the anwers for what he had planned. We had to play much better defense, we allowed too many open shots for Samanic, we had 10 less rebounds in the first quarter. But we believed we could win up to the end and that's why we finally did it».
On whether Olympiacos' game is less group focused: «I always believe in the plan, to give assists, to play as a team. That has been our philosophy in the 5 years I'm with Olympiacos and this has led us to three Final Fours and domestic titles. While we play like that, we also have players like Fournier and Vezenkov with lots of talent, Sasha scored 45 points just a few days ago. We have big personalities on our roster, but we must play European basketall, we don't have to play individually to win titles. I believe we must allow the players to show their talent but always with a principled game».
On whether this season is special for the club: «I can't predict the future. I had a feeling we would win two years ago and we lost to Real with a buzzer beater while we were leading throughout the game and that was a huge disappointment for us. That's life and that's basketball and even 1% of a detail counts. I can't predict anything. What we must do is be better and focus on one game at a time. That has always been our philosophy and that's how we are to continue».