The belief was common for Drew Nicholas and Nikola Pekovic. They both enjoyed their first official game wearing the uniform of Panathinaikos. Two of the new faces in the team left OAKA on Sunday with a win (82-54) and a good game, considering that it was the first official game of the season and also that there were no fans on the stands.
“I really enjoyed it”, said Nicholas, only to add: “For me it’s so much fun. It’s a team effort. You know that everybody is out there working hard and everybody is ready to contribute and everybody is giving 110%. You know it’s really great way of playing basketball”. Pekovic didn’t have anything to… argue about with Nicholas: “I really enjoyed it. Very much! Because I played with great players and we got away with a win with big margin. I truly enjoyed every minute of the game. Hopefully we’ll continue this way”.
The Montenegrin center seemed to know very well what he will face entering the court: “We had no fans on the stands, something that made things more difficult, but on the other hand I knew that Panathinaikos has lost last year in OAKA in the game against Maroussi. This fact was an extra motivation for all of us. Even if some of us weren’t playing for Panathinaikos last year. Of course we have watched too many games that Maroussi has played during preparation time and we were well prepared. We knew what we were going to face and I believe that we had a good game”.
Nicholas talks about “a good win”, adding something more: “It was a good victory obviously tonight. We played well we did exactly what we had to do especially in the defensive end, eliminating them to 54 points that was obviously a very good job by us We must continue in the same way. We are still in the process of getting to know where everybody is at the right time, at the right moment and to make the right decisions. It’s only October 12. We have time. If we continue to build like this we’ll be OK”.
He talks about good defence and Pekovic has something to say himself on the same subject: “The more positive of this first game is the defence. When you play good defence, offence comes along. Good defence gives you fast-breaks; you have better chances to move in the right way in offence. We have to keep trying in defence, because it makes things easier for us. We finished with Maroussi and now we want to get ready for our next opponent”.
