Parker and Vesely at Eurohoops: “Let’s protect Palau, because it will be difficult in Greece”

By Michalis Stefanos / [email protected]

One, with 12 seasons behind him, seven appearances in Final Foura conquest and a prize MVP, epitomizes the experience. At 33, he continues his high flights and this year he is averaging 13 points, 4.4 rebounds and 16 pir in just 22 minutes of participation.

The other, landed this year on the planet of the Euroleague and is preparing to try for the first time the special experience of the European play-offs. In his rookie season he proved to be particularly influential and a few days ago he signed his stay in our country for two more years.

Both of them were the main protagonists of the impressive regular season carried out by Barcelona, ​​securing with relative comfort one of the four privileged positions in the final ranking.

The reason for him Jan Vesely and the Jabari Parker who shortly before welcoming Olympiakos in perhaps the brightest of the four quarter-final series of this year’s Euroleague, spoke to Eurohoops and the Michael Stefanou.

JAN VESELI: “WE KNOW WHAT TEAM IS COMING”

“We are in third place in the league and before welcoming Olympiakos we wanted to achieve an important victory in Palau and we did it against Murcia” the Czech center initially said and continued: “We know what a high level team is coming to face us. We respect them, we’ve been preparing for this series for the last week and when the time comes we have to be ready to play. There’s not much to say when it comes to this point in the season, really, you just have to go out and do the job.”

As for the two victories achieved by his team over the red and whites in the regular season, Veseli does not consider that they play any role in view of the upcoming clash: “Whatever happened in the previous games is of no importance. Now we are talking about a completely new organization, after all, both they and we have significant changes in our rosters in relation to the matches of the regular season. We are starting from scratch and we know it will be difficult. We have to play smarter, be tougher and of course have even more motivation and belief in our abilities”.

TZA BARRY PARKER: “LET’S PROTECT OUR HEADQUARTERS BECAUSE…”

The progress of Olympiakos in recent years and the noise that the red and whites have made in Europe initially confused the not-so-great connoisseur of European history Jabari Parkerwho upon hearing the first question about the series with Olympiakos spontaneously asked us: “How many times have there been champions: Aren’t they the ones who have dominated the league in recent years?”.

When we explained to him that the red and whites last won the trophy in 2012-13, but last year they played in the final and the year before last they were in the Final Four again he replied: “It’s just what I often hear about their dynamic. However, for them to be there the last two years means they know how the playoffs are played, so I expect nothing less than a high-level test. We respect them and we must be ready to face them.”

Olympiacos has the best defense among the eight teams that continue and at the same time scores the least. For Jabari Parker, the key will be the tempo: “We have to play our game, especially at home. Let’s play fast and shoot the ball well. When we score a lot, the opponent has little chance of beating us here. All year we have played good basketball and I think now that the biggest challenge is coming we can show what we are capable of doing. Olympiacos is very tough and we have to beat their toughness.”

For the American PF, finally, the biggest advantage for Barça is that of the home: “We have to protect our home! Let’s take advantage of the start of the series with two matches at our stadium and take the lead, because I know it will be very difficult to win in Greece. There they usually create very difficult conditions for the opposition, so it is important to start with wins in the first two games in Barcelona. In Europe I think home advantage is even more important and we have proven that we play much better at home. I hope the world will enjoy an exciting series and in the end we will be the ones to qualify”.

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