[ad_1]
Photo: Basketnews.lt/D.Lukšta
Photo Basketnews.lt/D.Lukšta
Piraeus Olympiakos coach Georgios Bartzokas, who will face Kaunas Žalgiris in the first Euroleague game at home, regrets that the coronavirus match has to be played behind closed doors.
“The fact that we play at home without our fans gives our competitors an advantage. This applies to everyone. It will be interesting to see how prepared we are. Žalgiris played three official matches in Lithuania. We had to play more friendly matches, but because of the coronavirus it didn’t work, ”said the Greek club’s coach before the match.
Piraeus’ team easily edged Thessaloniki’s Iraklis (88:75 and 80:50) in the run-up to the match, but in a subsequent Euroleague friendly in Valencia, Villerban’s USEL (57:74) was brought down and only Bayern Munich broke down in the second half of the match. : 68.
Before starting in the Euroleague, Bartzok’s students managed to play twice against ALBA Berlin, with whom they shared the victory – 78:71 and 69:75.
Olympiacos have changed a lot in the summer. Costa Slouk, Aaron Harrison, Hassan Martin, Charles Jenkins, Giannoul Larentzaki and Livio Jean-Charles arrived in Piraeus in the summer.
“Looking at the market, I think we did a very good job,” said the coach. – The most important thing is that we have a motivated team. We also have problems with a lot of changes, for example in a friendly match in Germany we made a total of 50 mistakes. This is not a normal number, we need to reduce it. Winning tomorrow will be very difficult. This year, our starting five has changed a lot, with three newcomers. “
Kostas Sloukas, who will take on the role of the main player, became Olympiacos’ most prominent summer purchase. The Greek played for Olympiacos from 2008 to 2015.
“It just came to our attention then. But I want to say that these six months without basketball have affected the players. Not just for Slouk, but for everyone. I think in 20 days all the teams will play better,” Bartzokas said.
The duel between the Greek and Lithuanian teams will begin on Thursday at 9:00 p.m.
Olympiacos composition:
[ad_2]
