Giorgos Bartzokas highlighted the lack of seriousness shown by his players in comments he made after the end of Olympiacos’ game against Kolossos on SPOR FM TV. The Red-and-Whites’ head coach noted that there needs to be improvement on defense, but also that they need to take games seriously from the start.
“Look, I don’t want to say that we treated it like a chore. I understand that the players have in mind that we have a very demanding game on Tuesday and then another on Friday. Not even 48 hours had passed since the previous game. Nevertheless, as you saw, we showed a lack of focus in the third quarter when the lead was 17–18 points; we made five consecutive mistakes,” he said, and continued:
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
“Kolossos made 18 three-pointers, if I’m not mistaken. That’s a very high percentage; they shot the ball extremely well. Obviously, this is a game where there’s no such thing as ‘we have to’ for them, but that’s always the case in every game. We need to be better defensively, be more cohesive, and take games seriously from the start so we don’t have to fight until the very end to win.
Kolossos didn’t play fast; they played very well and executed their plays effectively. The shots they took were the result of good execution. We didn’t play well in the 2-on-2 situations, so they had easy shots from the inside out. We didn’t fill the paint when we needed to, and when we tried to fill it, the ball went too high. They made a lot of shots; I hope they make just as many in their next games. But we have to move on now, pull ourselves together, and have a good practice tomorrow so we can make the most of our chances to beat Valencia,” he concluded.
*photo source: KYPE
