Olympiakos coach Georgios Bartzokas spoke ahead of the second playoff game against the Merengues, emphasizing the need for his players to maintain the same motivation they had in the first match and to prevent Real from showcasing their strengths.

Olympiakos emphatically defended their home advantage in the first game of the Euroleague playoffs, taking a 1-0 lead in the series. Bartzokas made it clear that the road ahead will not be easy, as Real Madrid will seek to respond, and his players must not allow them to display their best game on the court.

Here are Bartzokas’s comments in detail:

• On how much better he expects Real Madrid to be: “They can appear much better, provided Olympiakos allows them to. They have talent and can shoot better. They’ll play with pride, perhaps with less pressure. The enemy of every team is complacency—mental relaxation. You pay for that in the second game, as we’ve seen in previous years with Olympiakos. I don’t have much to add. We spoke last night; it’s been a short time since. Our approach remains the same. The opponent is very strong. After the strong defensive first half we had—because we weren’t as good offensively—we managed to secure a 10-15 point lead but lost the next two quarters. This is logical, as Real will come out strong. This next game is very difficult, and I’m not saying this just to raise attention among players and fans. If we win, it will be significant, and we need to play with the same motivation we had in the first match.”
• On whether losing Game 2 in previous playoff years serves as a “warning sign”: “That will be proven. We will have a meeting with the players now. There’s little we can change, but mainly on a mental level. Our fans shouldn’t expect anything easy. We need to approach this as if it’s 0-0 and fight for every possession.”
• On whether he plans to make changes to the lineup: “Often, you need to give opportunities to deserving players who haven’t had them. We’ll decide on the lineup after tomorrow’s practice. I haven’t even thought about it yet. Life always disrupts your plans, and we’ll wait for tomorrow. Someone might encounter a last-minute issue; we’ll see. We’ll have few or no changes. There are small issues, but nothing significant enough to keep anyone out.”
• On Real Madrid’s bench, which did not contribute in Game 1, and whether Olympiakos has a talent advantage: “Real’s bench has a lot of quality, I believe that. If you see who came off the bench, you’ll understand. The game (from yesterday) belongs to the past. I don’t think we have a talent or skill advantage over Real; this might be true with other teams, while Real also has experience. They have a core group of players who have been playing together for many years and have faced these situations.”
• On whether he expects anything different from Real in Game 2 and what he learned from Game 1: “You always learn from every game. If you keep your eyes and ears open, you should draw conclusions. However, because there is a large sample of games, and Real has played 60 like us, it’s not easy to see new things. Many times, you feel just how cohesive a team is. Real comes from a good period with consecutive wins. Overall, I don’t have anything specific to change in my thoughts. I have great respect for Real, and tomorrow will be very difficult.”

Olympiakos player Shaquielle McKissic also spoke, stating that it will be in favor of the Piraeus side if they maintain the concentration they had in Game 1, while emphasizing that “we remain hungry” and that “the motivation is there,” as well as highlighting that “we have new energy, especially with the return of Walkup and Vildoza, as well as our healthy bigs.”

• On Game 2 against Real: “I think if we continue to remain focused like we were in the first game, it will be beneficial for us. It has been a long time since the team was complete, and I believe it gives us great confidence knowing we have players on the bench who can support the starters, like myself. I feel we have a lot of confidence looking ahead to the second game.”
• On how he felt after dunking in transition and the crowd “erupted”: “For me, it felt like just a regular day at work. It’s easier to say that now, but I told Shaiben (Lee), ‘that’s how you do it’ because, when he went on the break, he was so concerned about Campazzo that he thought he was going to chase him. I thought maybe he would do something crazy, but in the end, we laughed a lot about it.”
• On how Olympiakos played in Game 1 and how they will approach Game 2: “I need to watch yesterday’s game. The level of concentration we had, especially defensively, was very high. It was like a calm storm. I don’t know how they will react in Game 2, but I imagine we will come in with the same discipline and determination that we had in Game 1. We remain hungry.”
• On how easy it is for Olympiakos to replicate the same level of energy in Game 2 and maintain their hunger: “I believe the motivation is there. I see it in Sasha’s (Vezenkov) eyes—not in a romantic sense, but the desire to return to the Final Four and achieve our goals. We have new energy, especially with the returns of Walkup and Vildoza, along with our healthy big men. There is a lot of excitement about what we can achieve.”