Panathinaikos got the win the team needed in the first game against Montepaschi Siena in Euroleague Play Offs. The next to goal is to make it to 2-0 through the second game between the two teams tomorrow (21.45, OAKA, SKAI). Dimitris Diamantidis didn’t dress in the first game (he is still undergoing treatment for the thigh injury he suffered last week), but his team mates put up a strong effort to cover for his absence. Among them Vassilis Spanoulis who got to “direct” the greens’ game. The Greek guard preferred to focus on the team effort rather than his own.
-Do you feel that you are less stressed after this first victory?
“Stress is present before every game; especially if we are talking about a game of such importance. We have to defend our home court advantage. It’s something that we earned by trying hard during the whole season. We performed well in the first game although we have to be careful with these “dead” periods we have, allowing our opponents to threaten us. Generally speaking we were focused, both defensively and offensively, the fans helped a lot and we managed to get to 1-0”.
-What do you have to blame for these “dead” periods?
“We are losing our focus. I believe that we have to be less enthusiastic and more mature. We have to use our heads and sense more during the whole game”.
-It’s something that you think you can fix in 48 hours?
“It’s not something technical. It’s not a matter of practice. It has to do with our character and will. It’s something you can improve not in 48 hours, but in one hour!”
-You believe that we must expect yet another battle in the second play off game? It will be the fourth time that you and Montepaschi Siena meet this season.
“More or less the teams know each other. Maybe we’ll some change in the tactics by the two coaches, but both of them know with what they have to deal. It’s a tough game, a tough duel, but I hope that at the end we will be the ones winning!!!”
Obradovic: “We have to play better”
Zeljko Obradovic talked to www.euroleague.net about the second game: “"Things are too simple: after we beat them and took the lead, now we have to play much better and go to 2-0, which is very important. My experience says that in this kind of series you have to forget what happened the last night and only think of the next game. Sure, we keep some things, like conclusions from Game 1 and we will try to do it better. Montepaschi Siena is a team with a lot quality and you cannot underestimate them because they miss Lavrinovic. Talking on special needs, I would say that we have to take care of our defensive rebounds. On Tuesday they grabbed 17 and this is not normal, because they played most of the time with four perimeter players."
Antonis Fotsis commented also to www.euroleague.net about tomorrow’s game: “On Tuesday we made the first step, but it's too early for conclusions. In such a situation you must always let the previous game behind and look forward to the next game. I think that we have to improve our performance in several parts, because Game 2 is another story and maybe a similar performance will not be enough for us. The most crucial point in Game 2 is to steady our performance, not waiting the last five minutes for sealing the victory and not allow them to come back and have chance for the break”.
Simone Pianigiani, the coach of Montepaschi Siena, added: “We can change some small things and adjust our play a bit. But not many changes though, because we don't have much time in between the two games. Thankfully, the same applies to Panathinaikos. For us is something new to play without big men like we did tonight. As a matter of fact, it was the first time this season. I only hope that in the next game, the score will be close, we'll have, more or less, the same points with Panathinaikos. Only this time my players will have more confidence to play with such a small line-up and will win the game."
Numbers
Drew Nicholas surpassed the 1000 points in his Euroleague career. Sarunas Jasikevicius is still looking for that one steal that will help him reach the 100plateau. Vassilis Spanoulis with his 2 steals reached 74 with Panathinaikos in Euroleague, a number that puts him ahead of Ariel MacDonald (72) in the 5th all time list. Jasikevicius surpassed the mark of 100 assists with the greens (104) in Euroleague.
Euroleague
The Euroleague website declared Jasikevicius’ assist for a dunk by Mike Batiste as the top play of day 1 of the playoffs, while the dunk of the night belongs to Nikola Pekovic. Antonis Fotsis got to the top in steals (3, along with Terrell McIntyre) and block shots (2, along with Kryapa, Vazquez, Vassilopoulos).
*Panathinaikos will practice in the afternoon.
*Tickets are still on sale tomorrow for the second game against Montepaschi Siena from Gate 10 (“Apostolos Nikolaidis” stadium) from 10.00 to 18.00), from PAO Shop (Shopping Center “Kamares”, 127, Har. Trikoupi Str., Nea Erythraia) from 09.30 to 17.00 and from OAKA, from 10.00.
