Panathinaikos had his first positive step in the play-offs semifinals in front of more than 14.000 fans, beating Aris. Vassilis Spanoulis referred to this first game against Aris, talking also about the special meaning of the fans’ presence on the stands.
“I would like to say a big “thank you” to the fans, because once more they demonstrated how much they love this team and we thank them for this. They know that they are like our sixth player on the court and our wish is to keep walking together to the end of the season”.
The MVP of Euroleague’s final 4 then talked about focusing on the greek league once again after everything that happened in Berlin: “The game against Aris was difficult emotionally and mentally. I believe that after conquering the Euroleague trophy we felt a little bit like empty. We tried these last days to refocus. To tell the truth we had the chance to have only one really strong practice these days. I am happy just because we got the win we wanted, but also because during certain periods of the game we performed well, against a team that was very accurate, even we had good defensive plays. We are now 1-0 and we have the chance to work for 2-3 days before travelling to Thessaloniki for the second game of the series. We want to find our rhythm and to claim the victory there too. We don’t have a problem playing in any court; Home court or not. For me the most difficult was this first one, because we know how tough it was mentally and also because were not in the best possible shape. Now we have to continue playing, to keep everything good we did in this first game, like getting the ball in the paint, passing well. On the other hand we missed a lot of free shots and we definitely need to improve our defense”.
“These games are our priority”
Nikola Pekovic talked about the difficulty of this first game after all the joy and celebrations for the Euroleague trophy. “We expected a tough game and it was exactly this. Feeling got caught up in the middle of everything. The amazing fans of Panathinaikos helped us to get the win and this first step was the most difficult to be made, since it was a game coming directly after the Euroleague final. Our mind is here in OAKA, but it was a little bit difficult to put aside everything. We are dealing with a huge success and at the end of the day we are all happy that we got the win against Aris. Now we go to Thessaloniki to see what we can do. I hope that we’ll be able to play a little bit better. We try to focus even more in what we have in front of us. These games are our priority now. We are in the league’s semifinals”.
About yet another one good personal performance Pekovic said: “Every single player is trying to help the team. Especially now that we need the results and we need to refocus. All year long that is what we are trying to do. We have to stick to this plan after feeling a little bit empty after the big success in the Final 4”.
*Panathinaikos will start its preparation for the second game against Aris (Wednesday 13th May, 16.00, ANT1) in the afternoon.
