Zeljko Obradovic was pleased in his team’s offense but was quite disappointed with its defensive performance, a fact more than apparent in his statements in the press conference after the game versus Kavala.
“Before starting preparations we had informed our players that Kavala is a team that enjoys running the open field. It was exactly the way it competed all through the first half. 17 out of 40 scored points were made in fast breaks. It was important to tell our players that our offense was good but it was obligatory for them to return swiftly back to defense, since during the transition we performed poorly. What we could not understand is that we committed only 2 fouls and allowed our opponent to get to 17 easy points off fast-breaks”, Zots initially stated only to continue: “In the second half we managed to stop fast breaks using clever foul strategy and we played really well. Kavala is a team that likes to change defenses, so we had to be patient, since we have the appropriate players to exploit any kind of situations. Overall, it was yet another good game and congratulations to my players. I hope that with Valencia, more of a crowd will gather and of course I wish Kavala all the best for what lies ahead”.
In reference to Ian Vougioukas, the Serbian Head Coach stated: “Ian is a player who we believe has the quality to assist the team in every department of the game. Up to date he has performed better in offense than in defense. He must improve his velocity and his ability to play as good in defense. Today, his was superb in offense. I’d rather not comment on his defense”.
Ian Vougioukas stated: “I am glad that Kavala is one of the championship’s surprises. We did not have time to prepare for the game. That is the reason we were bad in defense. In the second half we were more focused and managed to exploit Kavala’s weaknesses to get to an easy win”.
Kavala Head Coach Dimitris Priftis noted: “The important thing for us was to present ourselves mature and competitive. It was very important to keep certain players that are sidelined facing injuries away from action in order not to make their situations worse. Awe opted for complex defenses because this season Panathinaikos posts up low in the paint with his perimeter players. We did not endure on the potential we seemed to have in the beginning. We must try to make it last longer in the upcoming games”.
Yorgos Georgakis, Kavala’s young center stressed: “It was a game against one of the best teams in Europe. We were facing problems all week long. We managed to catch the level of performance we are able to for quite a long period of time in the encounter”.
