Sfairopoulos: «A critical game for us»

Olympiacos visits Bamberg on Thursday (10/3, 20.00 CET) for the 10th day of the Euroleague TOP16 and Giannis Sfairopoulos said the game against the German team is a critical one.

GIANNIS SFAIORPOULOS: «It’s definitely a critical game for us, it’s important that we stay focused in our plan. It’s a difficult home court and a good team. They have only lost two games this season at home, one to Real Madrid for the TOP16 and one to CSKA Moscow for the Regular season. They are a “home court team” in general and they beat us in the first round of the TOP16, something that proves they have quality. We need to remain focused. It’s a game that we have worked well on practices and we need to do the same at the game. Perimeter defense is always important and it’s even more important now. They move the ball well, we know what we need to do. It’s not just defense, it’s offense as well. We need to play in a dynamic manner and be determined”.

Asked on whether the victory over Laboral Kutxa will also mean the Piraeus team counter attack, the Greek coach said that “I don’t know if it’s a counter attack or not. We want to be playing well, we know how to play well and we need to come on the floor and play as needed and do what we have to do”.

On his part, Othello Hunter said that “the game is going to be tough, no doubt about that. This game will start from the defense for us. We need to play good defense. They had caused us a lot of problems in the beginning and we need to find solutions. We want to be winning till the end and qualify for the play-offs. This is our goal at the moment. We all know what is going on, we know that Olympiacos functions better when under pressure and that’s what we are going to be doing now”.