By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
He started out the season in a status of doubt, but he looks like he’s finding his role. D. J. Strawberry talks to www.eurohoops.net about himself and Olympiacos ahead of the big game against Efes.
The 30-year-old American guard celebrated the Turkish championship last year with Karsiyaka thanks to two wins in Efes’s home. This year, he’s looking for his “rebirth” and he wants to get a valuable away win with Olympiacos in the Euroleague.
The season has not started out well for him mostly because of his inaccuracy from long-distance. He’s nervous and this comes out in all his attempts. Overall, D. J. Strawberry has 0/5 three-point field goals in the Euroleague and up until last week’s game against Limoges in the Peace and Friendship Stadium he had 7 points in total, with 3/12 shots in 36 minutes of playing time in the Euroleague. He’s very good defensively, but so far he looks like he’s… out of his depth, as he hasn’t found himself in offense.
In the second half against Limoges he got several attempts on the open court, scored 12 points and got a boost in his confidence for what comes next. “This is my game. To steal the ball and run on the open court. From the moment I started doing that better and being more consistent I believe that I offer something that the team needs, every time. And that’s more energy and effort in defense. That’s where my game gets under way and that’s how I become better in offense too.”
But how can he explain the fact that, last year he had 36% accuracy from the three-point line, in last year’s playoffs in Turkey, 44%, and this year he still hasn’t made a shot in the Euroleague?
As he says, that’s not his priority: “My role is to come off the bench, play good defense, steal the ball and provide energy and do all the little things. In offense, I have to be patient and wait for my shots to start going in. As long as I’m there and I provide energy in defense, only good things happen.”
The next game for the Piraeus team is the group derby against Efes, a team he got to know well from his time in the Turkish league. His memories from last season and the winning of the championship with Karsiyaka are very pleasant and a few months later he’s going to visit Istanbul again for a great Euroleague game.
“I remember our games against Efes very well. They’re a good team every year. They play well at home. They have excellent players, many big names on their roster. We’ll go there to play our game and win,” the 30-year-old American said.
Dusan Ivkovic has created an athletic team with players that are distinguished for their athletic qualities (Granger, Tyus, Dunston). What does Olympiacos have to set against them?
“We have athletic players too. People think that we don’t have an athletic team but it’s a mistake. In reality we have athletic players too and we can match up well against them. But everything is going to show on the court. That’s where we have to prove to ourselves first of all that we are better and win the game.”