Georgios Bartzokas after loss in Milan: 'We played like an arrogant team' / News - Basketnews.com

Bartzokas says that Olympiacos' approach was the main factor behind the 21-point defeat in Milan on Friday night.

Credit: Stefanos Kyriazis / ipa-a/SIPA - Scanpix Credit Stefanos Kyriazis / ipa-a/SIPA - Scanpix

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan produced their best performance of the EuroLeague Regular Season on Friday night, as the Italian team beat leader Olympiacos Piraeus 83-62 at Mediolanum Forum.

Milan won the fourth EuroLeague game in a row and improved to a 10-15 record, while Olympiacos saw their seven-game winning streak snapped as the Reds dropped to 18-8.

"First of all, I want to congratulate Milan for the win and the desire they played with. They fought and that is shown by their steals and the turnovers they forced us to make," coach Georgios Bartzokas said after the game.

"We had 19 turnovers and when you commit so many, it's difficult to win the game. They took all the 50-50 balls, on the floor and in the air, something that shows they had big-time motivation to play against us."

Milan winning against Olympiacos is the biggest upset this EuroLeague season, in terms of the difference between teams' wins, according to Darius Garuolis. Before the game, Milan had 9 wins, while Olympiacos possessed the same 18 victories.

"We played like an arrogant team, we wanted to win the game without fighting, which is what took us to the top spot in the rankings until now," Bartzokas emphasized. "We have to congratulate Milan and move on. We trust our team, and sometimes a loss like this helps a coach set things up again."

The Greek specialist also commented on whether Milan's big-men strategy was decisive in the Round 26 game.

"None of our players had a good night, and I am not talking about a shooting night. I am talking about the approach, which was really loose today. It's not about the [Milan] line-up with [Nicolo] Melli and [Johannes] Voigtmann. Voigtmann is a fantastic player with experience, as are Melli, [Kyle] Hines, and [Brandon] Davies. There is no doubt that Milan has potential and talent, but it was about our approach."

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