Blatt: "We need to play high level basketball "
The Olympiacos delegation departed for Moscow Wednesday morning (31/10), where tomorrow (01/11, 18.00 CET), will be playing against CSKA for the 5th round of the Euroleague.
“CSKA is definitely a high level team. This is not a surprise to anyone”, the red’s coach David Blatt commented. “But you will be watching a lot of games like this one during the season. There are many good, high level teams. This means that also need to be playing high level basketball. This is what we hope we are going to be doing”.
Asked on whether defense is going to be the key against such a talented team offense wise, he replied: “CSKA has many great offensive players, very talented ones… But I think that their attack is a product of their ability to drive their opponent to making turnovers, their inclination to rebounding and their skill at running the fast break. So, we are going to have to do a good job on every aspect of the game, and limit their chances to easy scoring which CSKA is bound to try and creating. It's always a combination of attack and defense and in some ways I repeat myself by saying that… The game is such that you have to acknowledge that all teams have the capability to creating advantages for them on both ends of the floor and you need to be doing the same. Against such a good team like CSKA, you are going to need to be capable of containing them by playing good defense, but at the same time, you need to score. So let’s hope we can do both”.
There have been ten years since Olympiacos left with a win from Moscow, but during that time, they have won the Army’s team every chance they meet in a Final Four. Asked about whether he prefers a win tomorrow or at the final four, he replied with a metaphor… “Let’s not put the cart before the horse” and went on to say: “We’ll see what happens. We are going there to win. This is our goal wherever we may be playing. We have been working hard on a daily basis to improve the team and allow it to go as far as it can… What happens at the end, depends on what you do on a daily basis”.
"We need to remain focused"
David Blatt says that a combination of good defense and offense is needed to win, however, Shasa Vezenkov bets on defense! “It’s a tough court. CSKA is, if not the best, one of the best teams in Europe. We need to be focused because they are a team that lives off the mistakes of the opponent. We need to show our good selves and make as few mistakes as possible as to not have problems. We need to be good with our defensive game. We need to be really tough and contain them. We have seen how CSKA easily scores above 90 points at almost every game they play, so we need to be playing our tempo. We need to be doing what our coach is asking from us and find a way to stop their offensive pluralism, which they exhibit in every game”.
On whether there has been progress in the team: “We make progress every day and learn from our mistakes. We learn from our bad parts in the game, from the games that we don’t get to play well and we want to become better each passing day. This is our goal and I hope we can prove that in Moscow”.