Bartzokas: «We need to learn to stay focused»

Giorgos Bartzokas attributed the fact that his team had a hard time getting the win against AEK to fatigue, but also to the lack of concentration.

“We got an important victory tonight. There hadn’t even been 48 hours following the game against Barcelona and we had to play against AEK, a team with lots of talent. They have their own basketball style that their coach has enforced and this becomes more obvious on the court each passing day. Following scoring, a defensive rebound, a quick outlet pass and transition game. They are strong with defensive rebounding, they have enough screens away from the ball… They have generally played a good game and gave us quite a hard time. It was also obvious by how the score was evolving. I think, that each passing day, every game, every practice, work in our favor, because the players are gradually going to be finding rhythm, which they were lacking before. What we need to be doing now is to see how we could have ended the game sooner, because we made a lot of turnovers and it was many times that we were giving them the ball. We have to learn to remain focused even in games that the motivation is not that great. That’s we need to be doing consistently and with stability. Good luck to AEK with their European game on Tuesday”.

On his part, AEK’s coach, Joan Plaza, pointed out: “Congratulations to Olympiacos. When the game is tied in the last minutes and in the last seconds, then both teams deserve the win. But, Olympiacos is a team with huge talent in their ranks. The important thing for us is that we made a good game. I’m proud of my players”.