Zeljko Obradovic justified his team’s mediocre performance, emphasizing on the fact that his players “are only human”. Panathinaikos’s Head Coach congratulated his athletes.
“It was yet another tough encounter after the series across from Barcelona . We came to perform after a single practice. Under these circumstances we could not prepare for the game with the equivalent focus across from a highly motivated opponent. It was a given fact that it would step on court behind motive, competitively, it performed a great game. Congratulations to Panionios, but also congratulations to my players, who under the circumstances and the manner in which we prepared, managed to win”.
In reference to the many missed free throws, Obradovic stated: “Apart from the fatigue, we suppose that a great deal was down to focus. They are only human”.
Ian Vougioukas noted: “We knew it would be hard. We are coming off two very hectic weeks, which were crowned with success. We experienced certain dry spells but we played well and snatched the win”. As far as his performance versus the Catalans in their last encounter his added: “It has certainly uplifted my confidence. I help out in a very important encounter. I would like to express my gratitude to coach, who entrusted me to play. My mentality has been toned”.
Head Coach of Panionios, Yorgos Bartzokas stated: “I am obligated to state the obvious: congratulations to Panathinaikos and to everyone who works for it, because it made the Greek basketball proud. We wish them all the best for the F4. We understood that they would be spiritually “empty”, maybe even physically, although it had both the players and the quality to live up to the expectations of the game. We tried to play with patience, penetrating or passing from penetrations. We were forced to switch to zone defense due to fouling trouble. Panathinaikos won, but Panionios committed a great performance which should be the guide-book for the ensuing season”. As far as HEBA’s decision to hold the next day in the league on 13/4, he responded: “We are fully compensated. We have 14 players. But we do actually have issues in dealing with certain situations. It is not an issue for us; maybe it is for other teams”. And he added to end: “We prepared analyzing encounters from the Greek League. But we were ready. The most important thing is to be able to stand on your own two feet and know who you are up against. Under other circumstances maybe things would be different. Although I have been told that it always has a hard time in this home-court either because of the court itself either because of its jersey’s dynamic”.
Speaking in his turn, Yannis Athanassoulas stressed that “we knew Panathinaikos was coming from a series of tough games. We hoped to counteract energy, strength. We managed to contain them for three quarter. Panathinaikos has the depth. We hang on to the performance for the ensuing season”.
