By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos Piraeus coach Giorgos Bartzokas commended his players for overcoming pressure in Game 4 of the playoffs against Real Madrid to get the away win and the qualification to the Final Four after winning the series 3-1.
“It was a game full of intensity, tension, physicality,” Bartzokas said. “It was a game that we expected to be like that. Real Madrid always has pride. They have talent and big time experience. For us, it was very important to control our emotions. We had huge pressure because we finished first in the standings and we had the bad luck to face the team that Zeljko Obradovic said it’s the favorite for the Euroleague.”
Olympiacos had a fantastic entrance in the second half and went on to go up even by 15 points when Kostas Papanikolaou made it 67 – 82 with six minutes remaining. Yet Real Madrid made a strong comeback effort and could’ve won the game if Albert Abalde converted the 3-point attempt he made at the buzzer.
“It wasn’t easy,” Bartzokas added. “Whenever you play against this team that has all this kind of know-how to go until the end and win the titles, it’s important to win. that’s why we had pressure until the end. we had a lead of 15 points and finally the game was decided on one shot. at the end of the game verything was against us and i’m happy we didn’t pay for this.”
Perhaps the shot of the game for Olympiacos was a heavily contensted 3-point bucket by Sasha Vezenkov from way deep. After being 0-4 from the 3-point line, the Bulgarian forward hit the triple to put his team up 78 – 85 with two minutes remaining, during Real Madrid’s comeback effort.
“The roster is really deep,” Bartzokas added. “We have a deep bench, everybody is ready to fullfil his role. It’s about team basketball and team effort. of course we need the talent and personality of Sasha Vezenkov. the 3-pointer he hit, it was crucial. but i have to give credit to all the players. defensively, offensively, rebounding, blocking shots. “It’s a team effort and that’s somethign that i really appreciate.”
Bartzokas also saw captain Kostas Papanikolaou coming up huge in the fourth period where he scored 9 out of his 12 points.
“Huge performance by Kostas,” Bartzokas commented. “Except the basket foul, every other shot he made was also after good ball movmeent. he took the pull up shots and he made them. the last one was really contested – this is why he also won the foul. he’s really the leaders ofthe team. he made the step up in the fourth quarter, to help the team come back and believe in ourselves more.”