By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
As Sfairopoulos said after the game: “I think we were better defensively in the second half. In the first seven minutes of the third quarter. They scored seven points and that was the key to get a lead and keep this lead until the end of the game“.
According to Olympiacos coach, his team can be even more aggressive: “Our concentration and our spirit, how we entered the second half, was much better than in the first half, and that gave us a win. Teams like Brose don’t have pressure, you see how they shoot the ball from the outside like they’ve got nothing to lose. We did not underestimate them. We respect Brose Bamberg a lot and all the EuroLeague teams, but we must be more aggressive and better defensively, and more consistent throughout the 40 minutes.”
For coach Luca Banchi who made his EuroLeague return, things are simple: “I believe our players did an excellent job. They spent a big effort to compete and they showed quality to play such a difficult game. It was not easy, in the first and the third quarter. Milutinov imposes size. We struggled on rebounds and we missed a little bit of size, but we competed because of the desire and what I like more is how we never give up in front of the struggles. We had some promising numbers. Despite the pressure of Olympiacos, we didn’t have many turnovers. We have a huge number of assists, which I believe is a picture of our trying to keep working together, no matter the pressure. By trying to resist, to compete and to limit the size gap, we probably exposed our players too much to personal fouls. But that’s part of the game. We probably have to work to become more smart and effective, like in the second quarter, when we played with the same aggressiveness but without giving up such a huge number of free throws.”