Bartzokas: «We did not control our emotions»

Olympiacos’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, attributed the reason for the loss to Barcelona to the fact that his players did not control their emotions in combination the very high percentage the Spaniards succeeded with their three-pointers.

“We made a bad start at home this season. Unfortunately, we did not control our emotions. We played in a packed court for the first time, and I think that this is the reason we went overboard at times. We did not have patience to follow our plan, we were executing poorly and of course, we allowed from the beginning of the game the good Barcelona shooters, like Abrines and Laprovitola, to have good percentages. Barcelona finished the game with almost 60% in threes. That was the decisive fact. When we were leading by 7, they replied with two back to back threes. And any time we got to lead, they scored a streak of threes, some tough ones, some open ones due to the bad communication in our defense. I also have to mention that our rotation was poor tonight. We had practically available only nine players. We need all of our players back soon, because the schedule is very demanding. I always say that no matter if we win or lose, we must immediately forget what happened and focus on the next game”.

Barcelona’s coach, Roger Grimau, pointed out: “We made a good start in the first quarter on both ends of the floor. We got to stop Olympiacos’ offensive weapons. I can say we played a very good second and fourth quarter. We were trailing even by seven at some point, but we succeeded in returning to the game. We improved our defensive game a lot, we put a stop to Olympiacos’ tactical game and got a major win”.