Bartzokas: «We are expecting a difficult game against Alba»
Olympiacos left the defeat to Tel-Aviv behind and has focused on tomorrow’s (24/11, 20:00 CET) game against Alba Berlin at the SEF, for the 10th Euroleague round.
“There is nothing you hold on to or not. We cannot stay on whatever is in our favour and leave everything that’s not aside”, is what the Olympiacos’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, replied following a relevant question. “At this point, we lost a game, that’s a given. It was a game we controlled for a long period of time, leading the score for about 32 minutes. But, at the end we did not execute our plan so as to win. We gave them confidence. Still, it was one game, it’s over. Before practice today, we analysed with the players where we should focus on improving and that we need to be staying focused and compact for forty minutes in the game. You see, the Euroleague is extremely competitive. Everyone is playing with great motivation, everyone has potential, everyone has talent5 and each game needs a certain approach and a certain game plan. Alba is a team that is first in transition possessions, first in transition points, they play at a very high tempo, they pass the ball a lot and despite having started with a good record, they are not a team that will not put in the effort or that will give up. They were leading the score by five last night and they lost in the overtime. So, we should be expecting a difficult game. Our players are certainly expecting one. Alba plays with the same tenacity and the same plan either at home or on the road. A team that passes the ball can always cause you problems. They have good players and as I have said before, all Euroleague games demand great physical and mental effort in order to win them”.