Bartzokas: “Lover’s return has made Zalgiris more rational”

Another hell of a week begins for Olympiacos in the EuroLeague, which in theory meets the bottom two in the table, but in practice has to overcome two obstacles that have been difficult for them in recent years.

The start will be on Tuesday night at Zalgirio Arena, followed by SEF vs Panathinaikos OPAP.

The Red-Whites traveled to Kaunas on Monday, March 14, with Giorgos Bartzokas focusing on the intensity needed for Olympiakos to exit Zalgiris HQ victorious.

“Zalgiris has been playing very well lately. He has won four of the last five games with very convincing performances. They play very well in defense and with great motivation, contrary to their goal position. But, as I said a few days ago, all teams that don’t score have quality, good coaches, good players and willingness to play. Some of the injured have also returned and are playing very well now. It’s obvious they easily beat Real Madrid there, they beat Barcelona too, so you understand the magnitude of the game’s difficulty“said the Olympiacos coach at first.

When asked if he thought the timing was good as the game against Panathinaikos at SEF follows later in the week, he replied: “No, I don’t think it’s good because games with Panathinaikos are always special. But we have five games ahead of us and we only have to watch the first of those. I try to convince everyone that this is the most important thing. From the video that our players watched, they understood that Zalgiris plays very hard. That puts a lot of pressure on the defense. Lovern’s return has streamlined things in terms of how they play. It will be a very difficult match“.

What Olympiakos needs to watch out for to return with the double he said: “We have to beat the hardness they play. This is the first. If you don’t do this when you’re just playing with the talent and the offensive part of the game, you’re out of luck. They must be on the same level of hardness“.

McKissick: “We only think about today”

For his part, Shaquille McKissick remarked: “I believe that tension will play an important role. We have to be smart on the defensive to set the tone early and take the win“.

When asked if there is in his mind and that of his teammates the next game with Panathinaikos OPAP, he replied: “In any case, we look at each game separately and each training session separately. We only think about today. Tomorrow we have a very difficult game and that’s all we’re concentrating on“.

Concluding on the painful defeat in Kaunas last year, he said: “It was a tough defeat and a difficult time, but now it’s a new season, a new year, so tomorrow we have to ‘finish’ the job.“.