Ioannis Sfairopoulos, the head coach of Crvena Zvezda, shared his expectations ahead of the EuroLeague Round 33 game against Olympiacos.
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Ioannis Sfairopoulos, the head coach of Crvena Zvezda, shared his expectations ahead of the EuroLeague Round 33 game against Olympiacos.
The Greek expert emphasizes that his team will certainly have additional motivation ahead of the match against the red-and-whites from Piraeus.
“We are playing against a team built for the EuroLeague Final Four. They have experience and quality, it’s a team currently fighting for home-court advantage in the quarterfinals. We will have extra motivation to finish the last game in front of our fans with a good result. We will fight as hard as we can to win.”
Ioannis Sfairopoulos then spoke about the qualities of the upcoming opponent.
“Olympiacos plays very well as a team, in both directions, and that is their greatest strength. We cannot just focus on one or two players because several of them can cause us harm. If we relax for two or three minutes, we could find ourselves in a big deficit, which could only make our job harder. Our consistency is crucial, we will have to react as a team, not allow them easy points, and also read their defense offensively and be smart in all situations they put us in.”
There is no doubt that the encounter with the giants from Piraeus will be special for the Greek player.
“When you play against your former club, it’s always special. You can’t just forget that you spent seven years there. But now I’m with Crvena Zvezda, and I will give my all to achieve the best result with them.”
Crvena Zvezda recently secured the first place in the ABA League before the start of the playoffs.
“From the moment we were out of the EuroLeague playoff race, it was important for us to secure the first place in the ABA League standings as soon as possible. That was our top priority. We have one more game before the playoffs, but it’s important that we have already taken care of that concern. Home-court advantage can be significant, but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything if you don’t play well. We must protect our home court and be the best in the playoffs, even better than before.
Our fans wanted us to go further in the EuroLeague, and we wanted that too. We had injuries, some poor results, and now we must focus on finishing this season as well as possible and create conditions for the next one, so we can be even better.”
Ioannis Sfairopoulos also touched upon Trey Thompkins‘ status.
“Trey won’t be playing against Olympiacos, but he’s in the final stages of finding his rhythm for the game. In a few days, maybe a week, we can expect him back.”
Milos Teodosic and Yago dos Santos have returned to the lineup.
“It’s very important that Yago dos Santos and Milos Teodosic are back, which will now help Hanga, who was our only point guard. It’s good that almost everyone is returning. This will increase our options in the game. It’s important to give players recovering from injuries the opportunity to find their rhythm, to be part of the team in good condition. It will be easier for them to regain their competitive form.”