By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The head coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas, was frustrated following an overtime loss in Round 26 of the 2025-26 EuroLeague Regular Season opposite Dubai in Coca-Cola Arena on Tuesday.
“I feel terrible, because we had the opportunity to win the game,” the 60-year-old expert confirmed in a postgame interview.
The Reds rallied from a 15-point deficit and forced five extra minutes with Evan Fournier beating the buzzer at the end of the fourth quarter. However, allowed 13 unanswered points after opening overtime with a short-lived three-point advantage.
“Before the three-pointer of Evan Fournier, we had a clear foul on offensive rebound on [Thomas] Walkup,” said Bartzokas, expressing his disagreement with a referee call.
“In overtime, whatever we took was missed shots. And of course, Dubai, with the great offensive talent they have, they took advantage of this. But OK, we had a good comeback. We believed in the win until the last second. We had to play way better defense today if we wanted to win this game,” added the Greek coach.
Dropping a nine-game streak, including five straight wins in Europe’s premier club competition, the continental tally was reduced to 16-9 amid a battle across several teams for a berth in the Playoffs 2026 and homecourt advantage in a best-of-five series for a ticket to the Final Four. Up next to complete a double-game week is Virtus Bologna in the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Friday.
Meanwhile, Dubai improved to 12-14 and got 2.5 games from the Play-In Showdown zone, with 12 more fixtures remaining in the Regular Season.