Zeljko Obradovic could not have been pleased with Panathinaikos’ performance and its home defeat to Valencia at the OAKA arena. It was a fact more than apparent from his statements after the game.
“It was a tough matchup, something we were awaiting and had discussed even on the eve prior to the clash. It was obvious that the last quarter was our worst. Details were the judge of the final result. Another thing however that we had talked about was that we wanted rebounding, steals and turnovers all to be in favor of us. A goal which was not obtained. The situation in our group is of such nature that anyone might proceed”, Obradovic stated initially only to add: “In the ACB league against Saragossa, Valencia was immensely aggressive. We noted it and prepared to be able to performed across from its pressure. Despite all this, we committed foolish mistakes. And it has nothing to do with their aggressiveness. At the most dire moments we made the hard shots and missed the easy ones. In the last offense Sato made a mistake, whilst slightly before he missed a shot, so did Drew (Nicholas). At the same time De Colo, despite Mike’s defense (Batiste), made a really hard basket. A have the feeling that something eluded us this evening. We stated yesterday that we were facing trouble, not only in the face of Maric, but in Batiste, Nicholas and Perperoglou’s also. With 4 players sidelined, things aren’t so easy in practice. We thank the fans for the atmosphere they created”.
From his point of view Svetιslav Pesic, Valencia Head Coach, stated: “I am only 7 days on the team. But to be honest, I do not know out real potential. But if you play like this across from Panathinaikos you must be happy with the win and the performance we illustrated. Every coach must feel this way, when he sees his team play like this. We did not take off well in the third quarter but we did not give up. It is the main reason we won. In all stats categories we were better than our rival. Better but not the best we could. We picked up 37 rebounds, 11 offensive ones, a fact that proves our players fought at every minutes. We had 7 steals, which shows we played defense, the kind of defense I like. Also, we got 18 points off fast-breaks and 6 off the transition game, 24 points in total. This I like too. We changed our defense. If you wish to be competitive in the ACB and not only there, you must know that you can play defense in the transition game, a department in which today we did receive baskets, but not more than 15 points worth. If you suffer 69 points with less than 15 off the transition game then you have many hopes of winning. We will continue to work on both defense and offense”, he characteristically stated only to conclude by adding: “We must not however forget about which time in the season we are at. Panathinaikos hopes to prevail come April-May. We lost certain encounters in the ACB and have different goals. Zeljko of course wants to win every game. But Panathinaikos was without Matic’s services, a big-man who helps out both in the transition game and at the low post, this we must not forget also”.
