Basketball
Bartzokas: “It’s not an easy game and I’m not saying it to avoid pressure”
George Bartzokas spoke about the goals, the pressure Olympiacos are under but also about the competition in the EuroLeague after the great win over Anantolou Efes.
Realistic, down-to-earth and confident that the work that will be required later in the season is even greater, George Bartzokas explained the importance of Thomas Wokap’s absence in the Olympiacos-Anadolu Efes game before discussing the competition at length hard character that the EuroLeague has.
Details of George Bartzokas’ statements:
“Congratulations to the children, to the world that has helped us so much. It was a tough game, as we expected. I said every game is important and crucial, so tonight we saw misplaced layups, misplaced open shots, mistakes. Anadolu Efes’ quality counts at every point and in every position, but I think we had a lot of chances to end the game in the regular season. What happened happened. We won in that special way, with Sloukas’ shot at the end of overtime, so congratulations to everyone.
I feel blessed to coach these players. It’s very important for us to overcome the falls we had while losing our best regional defender in the last phase of yesterday’s training. Efes have a lot of good players on the periphery, Wokap’s absence was crucial but everyone tried to make up for his loss in defence. We have Lavrio on Monday. From the beginning of the year we focus on our team game. We make two wins, everyone says we will win the Euroleague. We make two defeats, there is a crisis. Even in 2013, when we won the Euroleague, there is no case that a whole year goes by like the wind for a team. He must learn and cope with both victories and defeats.
Our goal is the octave, which is not that easy. There is no easy game. We label Euroleague away games as games not to be missed. I’m talking about the game with Basconia. I’m not saying that to avoid the pressure we’re under anyway, but because that’s the reality. Every win counts, we have 14 games at the moment and a number of games ahead of us. At the end we will create our report. We can’t rely on one or two players, but overall everyone has to be able to live up to expectations.
If you play well on defense, you can win games. Shooting is also very important. My conclusion is that teams that shoot well win. In world basketball, you see how many shots are made with the three-pointer. There is a lack of high-level Post players in Europe. Consistently scoring from the periphery brings wins. We didn’t play that well in defence, so we can still do better things. Some were tired while we had two games in Spain and one game against Aris a few days ago. At the moment it is important to manage our physical preparedness and our psyche in order to be prepared for the great challenges that lie ahead“.
Jessica Martinez is an author at Sportish, a publication dedicated to sports news and analysis. She covers various topics related to sports and provides insightful commentary on the latest developments in the world of sports.
True, his team was left without a victory.
Over the past year, fans have become accustomed to news about records coming from overseas. Until recently, their main supplier was hockey player Alexander Ovechkin. But in the 2025/26 season, successes in the NBA were added to the achievements of our athletes in the NHL. This became possible thanks to the play of Yegor Demin, who again played a great match the day before with the Brooklyn Nets.
If the Russian does not slow down, then in the future, like Ovechkin, he has every chance to go down in the history of North American sports.
On the way to a dream
Russian representation in the NBA has always been more modest than in the NHL. And even with certain achievements, and Timofey Mozgov and Alexander Kaun, by the way, became league champions, the thought does not arise to compare the successes of Russian hockey players and basketball players overseas. How many American basketball fans now remember Sergei Monya, Yaroslav Korolev, Pavel Podkolzin?
Only Andrei Kirilenko stands out from the general background – the Russian forward played in the NBA for quite a long time. I even once went to an all-star game, where I played side by side with people like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming, Allen Iverson. But how many star matches did our hockey players have overseas?
With all due respect to the AK-47 game, he still does not reach the level of a North American basketball legend. Time will tell whether Yegor Demin, who powerfully broke into the NBA at the age of 19, will be able to write his name into history. But for now, the Brooklyn Nets basketball player is doing everything possible to make his dream come true.
Prolific newcomer
Kirilenko was selected by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the NBA draft as the 24th pick, and Brooklyn took Demin eighth. But these were still advances, which have so far been fully justified. The newcomer regularly appears on the court, and with the exception of the first couple of weeks of the season, in the starting lineup. At the same time, Egor is not just serving his number: in the last six matches he scored at least 14 points, in two cases he reached the 20 point mark.
In the next regular season game, the first basketball player in the league with the letter “e” on his uniform scored 23 points in the match against Golden State. Demin managed not only to repeat his best result, but also set a Brooklyn record for three-pointers among newcomers – seven accurate hits from behind the arc. True, the Russian team still lost with a score of 107:120, but in the context of the personal success of our basketball player overseas, this is a secondary issue.
Of course, to achieve sporting greatness, Egor needs to spend more than one season at this level, but at least a dozen and a half. Demin, with 275 points in the NBA, did not even reach the results of Sergei Karasev (287), although he can do this in the next game. And then new landmarks will appear: Viktor Khryapa (643), Alexey Shved (1349), Timofey Mozgov (3072) and, of course, Andrey Kirilenko (9431). When the Russian surpasses the results of the AK-47, then we can talk about an established star in the NBA. In the meantime, we can only wish our basketball player not to lower his demands on himself and avoid serious injuries.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has been writing for a news website since 2015. My work primarily focuses on sports news, but I have also written about other topics such as technology and the arts. I have an extensive background in journalism, having worked as a reporter for a local newspaper before moving to a news website.
Basketball
Vembanyama’s double-double did not help San Antonio avoid defeat from Cleveland in the NBA match
San Antonio lost to Cleveland in a home game of the NBA regular season.
The meeting ended with a score of 113:101 (25:26, 24:29, 27:23, 37:23) in favor of the guests. The most productive player of the match was Cleveland basketball player Jarrett Allen, who scored 27 points. For San Antonio, Victor Vembanyama scored a double-double with 26 points and 14 rebounds.
Cleveland (18 wins/16 losses) is in eighth position in the Eastern Conference standings. San Antonio (23/9) is second in the West.
Results of other matches of the game day:
“Washington” — “Phoenix” — 101:115
“Charlotte” — “Milwaukee” — 113:123
“Toronto” – “Orlando” – 107:106
“Miami” — “Denver” — 147:123
“Chicago” – “Minnesota” – 101:136
“Houston” — “Indiana” — 126:119
“New Orleans” — “New York” — 125:130
“Oklahoma City” — “Atlanta” — 140:129
Portland – Dallas – 125:122
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has been writing for a news website since 2015. My work primarily focuses on sports news, but I have also written about other topics such as technology and the arts. I have an extensive background in journalism, having worked as a reporter for a local newspaper before moving to a news website.
Russian basketball player Egor Demin set a Brooklyn record among newcomers for the number of three-pointers made in one match, the club’s press service reports.
In the NBA regular season match, Brooklyn lost to Golden State with a score of 107:120. Demin made 7 three-point shots, which is a club record among newcomers.
In total, Demin scored 23 points in the match, the Russian repeated his personal record for scoring in the NBA – he had previously scored 23 points in the November match with Philadelphia (103:115).
Brooklyn has 10 wins and 20 losses in 30 matches. Demin’s team is 12th in the Eastern Conference standings.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has been writing for a news website since 2015. My work primarily focuses on sports news, but I have also written about other topics such as technology and the arts. I have an extensive background in journalism, having worked as a reporter for a local newspaper before moving to a news website.
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