‘There is no easy match in the EuroLeague, we have to be hungry in every match’

Olympiacos face Maccabi Tel Aviv (14/11, 20:00, Novasports 4, Match Center from SPORT24) and Giorgos Bartzokas spoke about the game, before the team’s departure for Belgrade.

The red and whites are coming off a win over Villerban at the Peace and Friendship Stadium and traveled to Serbia for the game against the team from Israel.

In detail what he said:

“There is no easy match in the EuroLeague. It is a continuous process for the coaches to convince the players that there are no easy nights. Of course, at times complacency is something that cannot be avoided, because there are so many playing obligations for all of us, that the mind and the body sometimes don’t follow…

But the game against Maccabi is a very difficult match, so we have appreciated it. A team that has a special way of attacking. A lot on the short roll and build and execute from there. Panathinaikos had a lot of difficulties yesterday, just like many teams who underestimate the situation with Maccabi, are struggling. We think we will have a tough game and they have to play much better than yesterday to win.”

On whether there was complacency in the game against Villeurbanne: “We come from ten days in red, we played games that were “do or die” for us. And sometimes the reaction is a bit human, without being able to justify it, because we have many players and they have to understand that every game is two points , each game has its own significance and importance.

We are in a phase where we need all our players to play well, because this level requires that. We do not sleep peacefully before any Euroleague match, even if we come from a streak. Here we have to be hungry in every match, play in red, with great intensity, play together, which is very important and think only of our team and not ourselves”.

For the phrase “great teams win on their bad nights”: “I adopt this ‘cliché’, because we’re not that happy with our performance yesterday, but at least we didn’t come away sad from the defeat, so someone has said ‘it’s better to win than to lose’, I applaud that.”

For Tamir Blatt: “The execution that coach Katas has at Maccabi requires the point guards to have the ball in their hands many times, to play continuous hands off, until they find a good point of execution or pass and he is obviously a very important player. Based on the assists before he got injured, his performance in games. But we are talking about a team that we should not focus on one player, but on the way they perform, which is unique and very nice.”