Bartzokas: “At Olympiacos we never choose an opponent, we don’t sit and miss games on purpose”

He followed his frenzy course in Euroleague, celebrating his sixth streak victory in the event, this time on Panathinaikos. What he said after the new hit against the greens. After the end of the match, George Bartzokas gave answers to many issues and explained, among other things, that Olympiacos is not likely to enter the process of choosing an opponent if he has this opportunity towards the end of the regular Euroleague season. In detail what George Bartzokas said: “It was important our victory, especially after the effort we have made to get into the playoffs. We won against a very good team and are happy about it. The world created a very warm atmosphere and I thank him for it. Congratulations to our players, especially Williams… Goss and Wakap who played with a practice, congratulations and Larentzapis who wanted to play although he was not ready because of his injury, congratulations to both the physiotherapists and our doctors who prepared our athletes until late at night. We had solid defense, it is not easy to keep Panathinaikos at 65 points. We had 11 thefts that showed our defense capability, made 18 mistakes, and we can say our only problem was rebounding. Even with these numbers we won, and that’s what’s important. Good luck to Panathinaikos, let’s keep trying, fighting and fighting. We have the fighting spirit, we refuse to lose. With Virtus we lost by two digits at halftime, our defense was solid and we won in the second place. I think our players want to help the team without ego. This is happening with everyone, this is the only approach we need to have. At the end of the third quarter, when we got ten points apart, we had to control our emotions. There Nan put a three-pointer and a foul, we made two mistakes in our defense in iso situations, but this is happening. I can’t complain. Moses Wright was too good, he doesn’t know his opponents yet. It’s different to have played 100 times against Slouka and Grigonis and to have played two. He plays with great intensity, has great ability, plays with speed, generally made a very good match. Life is subversive. There are some constants, you see the behavior of the players, how good teammates and how many fighters they are. We’ve been hit by injuries, survived, and I knew that with any luck, we’d do what we finally do. A good course. Make as many wins to end up in the playoffs. We’ve been on a playoffs streak, lost the best player in EuroLeague and stayed on the same level, and people understand that this is a good job. The presidents strengthened the team with players, important for its development. We don’t make heavy statements, we look at each game separately. In no game were we complete. The league, too. With the Panathinaikos we lost in the final phase, Fal was not playing, Milutinov was hit, Petrusev was playing with a bruise. In others Williams-Goss didn’t play, I mean that important players for us were out, McKishik himself. We hope we will all prepare together, we have proved that we are a team of champions, there is no doubt about our players’ modalite. Additions were forced, but they were very important. Fal was out for a month. Milutinov is outside. Williams-Goss has been out three times. Last year when we didn’t have major injuries, we were first from beginning to end. Additions were important. The third quarter does not show that we have greater depth, just in the second we make a rotason big and in the third we enter again with the five with which we open the match. Maybe it’s more rest than our opponents. In the locker room there is pressure, huge pressure to win, sometimes conversation at halftime helps to see things realistically and without much emotion. As an Olympic we never choose an opponent, we do and we will do our best. And historically, it’s never happened. We don’t sit around and lose games on purpose. We’ll do our best with the right approach. Derbys are almost always judged that way, the pressure is great. Kanan had one/8 tonight. If only he had a normal percentage, we would have left a lot sooner. But it happened.”