Georgios Bartzokas spoke at the press conference following the game against Crvena Zvezda.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate Crvena Zvezda on the win and once again say how grateful I am to our fans for their support. As far as I’m concerned, there are no excuses. The way we played, we didn’t deserve to win. Although we had the opportunity to fight our way back into the game, make up the big half-time deficit and bring it down to a one-possession game, anyone looking at the statistics can easily understand that winning with those shooting percentages over the course of an entire game is not easy. We shot 13% from three-point range, taking 36 attempts! Most of them were good shots, created after an extra pass, and yet we still shot just 13%. At the same time, we missed seven free throws and shot below 50% from two-point range, so winning the game was extremely difficult. We made a great defensive effort, but only in the second half, which is why we had a chance to compete for the win. However, it wasn’t enough.”
Asked about the lack of fouls committed in the first half and whether this had contributed to Crvena Zvezda’s lead, Bartzokas replied:
“Absolutely, 100%. That’s why there was that 18-point difference. We didn’t commit our fifth foul of the first half until the very end of the second quarter. We committed just one foul in the entire first quarter. When you play at home, you have to impose your physicality, make contact and play good defense. Instead, you end up allowing your opponents to feel so comfortable on the court that they start shooting well. Crvena Zvezda are also in good form.
But it’s not just about the fouls. On several occasions, we tried to play heroic basketball. We played against ourselves. Just look at the shooting percentages, including those of some individual players. Everyone should have been better today, myself included. You cannot approach a game that would have put you in first place with that kind of attitude. We were completely off track in terms of how we should have defended, attacked and managed our nerves.
Someone might point out that two players who had been out of the rotation in previous games got minutes, but there were also players who had found their rhythm and still underperformed. Overall, it was a poor performance from us. I hope and believe that, at the level we compete at, this defeat will serve as a lesson in how we need to approach our next game and continue our EuroLeague journey, which is far from easy, for all the reasons you know.”
Asked whether the team’s poor offensive output could influence the type of player they might sign, Bartzokas said:
“In the second half, when we played with more emotion, our reactions were not consistent. We failed to control ourselves and made poor decisions. In the first half, we created plenty of open shots for good shooters, who missed them despite being completely unmarked. Overall, we were careless, rushed and messy in the way we tried to win the game. We tried to win it through emotion and reputation, but that’s not how things work in the EuroLeague. You have to play as a team in every game.
The worst thing I could do would be to let public opinion influence me, based on a single game, regarding the type of player Olympiacos should sign. For example, because we struggled offensively today, should we sign a scorer? Or, after the previous games in which we conceded 100 points, should we have gone after good defenders? Every game is a different situation, depending on the opponent and on everyone’s mental and physical readiness. Jumping to conclusions is completely wrong. It’s like having a football team, conceding a goal to a particular player and immediately wanting to sign him without knowing whether he fits your system.
I believe that, first and foremost, we need to remain calm. This is the EuroLeague, with its ups and downs, something we deal with every year. We also had defeats last season, as you rightly pointed out.
We must also not overlook the fact that Olympiacos have the advantage of playing at their own home arena, whereas this season we essentially don’t have a permanent home. Even in this situation, playing here, Olympiacos have held more practices at their own arena than we have. They practised last night and again today, while we only had this morning’s practice.
That’s the reality. If we look at things objectively, Olympiacos are building their own home-court advantage, while this season we are essentially nomads, without a permanent arena. That’s the situation, and we have to accept it while also fighting to overcome this difficulty.
We therefore need to remain calm, explore every possible opportunity to improve our game, try to finish as high as we can and take stock at the end of the season.”
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