By Bugra Uzar / [email protected]
ABU DHABI (United Arab Emirates) – Olympiacos are awaiting a tough challenge in the Semi-Finals of this campaign in the EuroLeague, entering the Final Four in Abu Dhabi with high spirits.
Thomas Walkup, speaking to Eurohoops, explained the team’s mood going into the clash with Monaco. “I think we’re in a great spot, we’re relaxed, feeling good, healthy, and confident. That’s all you can ask for going into a Final Four. I don’t think we feel the pressure at all,” he said.
Asked about how tough it will be to face Monaco’s all-around backcourt power, he said he won’t be alone. “It’s not a one-guy thing, it’s really a five-man job to guard these guys. They’re so talented and put a lot of pressure on defense. It’s a five-man job.”
“I’ve always said that about Mike, because he puts so much creativity into the game that it’s too much for one guy to handle. You really have to do it in five,” Walkup also commented on Mike James.
If there’s something Georgios Bartzokas’ team learned from the series against Real Madrid, it’s their ceiling as a squad. “If we do what we do, nobody in Europe can hang with us. That has to be Olympiacos basketball, if we do it, at the end of the weekend we’ll like where we at.”
Ultimately, he summed up perfectly the fighting spirit of his team: “We are from the port, baby.”