Bartzokas: «We must give our best»

Olympiacos will be hosting Barcelona tomorrow (07/03, 20.00 CET) in a packed SEF, aiming for the win that will keep him at the top of the ranking.

Our team is coming from a long run of back to back games away from ‘home’, but, according to what coach Giorgos Bartzokas got to answer when asked, fatigue should be out of his and his players’ minds. “Our schedule has been especially heavy recently. Last night we got to play a second game in less than forty two hours, plus the trip that kept us awake the whole night. This can only but cause fatigue, but we can’t be complaining. This is our schedule, just like the one for every other Euroleague team. The only difference in terms of our opponent tomorrow is that they have had one more day to rest. Also, on Saturday they rested their two best players, Higgins and Mirotic had been out. On the other hand, they lost the game. We did not play well in Milan, we were under pressure yesterday. We seemed to be tired, in spirit, body and soul. We have to immediately change our approach in view of a demanding game tomorrow, against a team that you all know how good they are. They are in good shape, they have won five games in a row, they’ve been playing much better. Mirotic’ return has raised their ceiling, while Higgins has been also playing very well. All in all, they are a team with very good execution on both ends of the floor. It’s going definitely to be a difficult and demanding game. Fatigue should be out of our minds, both mine and my players’. Tomorrow we are getting to play in a full gym, in front of our fans and we have to give our best”.