Georgios Bartzokas: 'We showed everybody that we deserve to be here' / News - Basketnews.com

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Olympiacos Piraeus head coach Georgios Bartzokas was really sad after the loss against Anadolu Efes in the semifinals of the EuroLeague Final Four, but he was proud of the players and what they did this season.

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"Unfortunately it was really tough night for us," Bartzokas started his press conference. "We competed really hard against EuroLeague champions and we believe that we should win this game if we could have some better decisions."

"Some players don't have experience in those kinds of games and that cost us. It is a really tough night for our team and our fans but at the same time I had to tell them that we are proud of them," he added.

Bartzokas summarized the successful season of his team.

"We came here after a long period without participating in Final Four and we showed everybody that we deserve to be here," he continued. "We had a fantastic season and the only thing I can say is just to give credit to our players, to the whole organization and our fans for this year. Olympiacos came back to the highest level of EuroLeague and we're going to stay there."

Bartzokas was asked if his players paid the price because of their first participation in the Final Four.

"It‘s always tough to play first time in Final Four. It costs on some decisions, sometimes you play with your emotions and not with thinking, but I cannot complain, we did a great job, we build a solid team in both ends.

Efes is a great team, the reigning champs, but I am sure we are at the same level as them," stated the coach.

Olympiacos coach also thought that his team controlled the game in the first half.

"We played better in the first half and ended up being in front by one. In the third quarter, Efes managed to gain an 11-point advantage and it's not easy in these kinds of games, and this kind of experienced guards that they have, to come back in the game," analyzed Bartzokas.

"And we had many chances to have the lead, a lot. I can remember 2-3 turnovers. Sometimes we made contested pull-up jumpers when we had a chance for an extra pass to find an open man. We had one of four three throws in a crucial part of the game," Bartzokas continued.

"At the same time, in these kinds of games, you need to make big shots if you would like to win the game. We had Sasha Vezenkov, a fantastic shooter, wide open but I cannot complain. It's all about this."

"We had ups and downs during the game but we were solid overall. We cannot complain about our players."

In the end, Bartzokas gave respect to unbelievable fans of Olympiacos.

"I am really grateful to my fans. It's not only today, they supported us all season long. They believed in our team, in our mentality and I‘m really sad that we couldn‘t give them this victory," Bartzokas concluded.

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