Panathinaikos faced Peristeri like it was Montepaschi Siena, but Zeljko Obradovic was not entirely pleased with his players’ performance, a fact more than apparent in his statements straight after the clash.
“Every game of our life is important and a play-off game all the more, especially when you are facing a game such as Peristeri. Everybody on the team knew what a mature team Peristeri is and what a serious preparation it goes through. So we, to use the same term should have played maturely and focused for the entire 40 minutes. But we didn’t… We started off poorly. Peristeri tried to perform behind four perimeter players and we did not react well. We did not have the appropriate concentration. During the first half we lost the battle of the boards, but it was an image shifted in the second half. This means that concentration is the most important element that we should have in the game. Competing against Peristeri we found some common ground with the way Siena performs. For example, Papanikolaou competes in the same manner Hairston does. Or when Peristeri tried to compete behind centers that pop out on screens and fired for a three, like Siena does behind Stonerook and Lavrinovic. If we are not prepared for this, every time we will be giving them a basket. This is why next game facing Peristeri on Saturday is so important”.
Zeljko Obradovic was asked about all that took place prior to tip-off, in reference to AEK’s legal action and the ruling for Ilissiakos from the athletic judge: “I had no idea what was taking place. My mind was on Peristeri”.
Nick Calathes noted: “We started off in the wrong foot but then managed to establish a pace. We performed good defense. These are the play-offs and all are great encounters. So we will prepare for Saturday’s game which follows”.
Peristeri’s head coach, Argyris Pedoulakis stated: “There is no need for much analysis of the game. Panathinaikos is a better team at every possible level. We tried to perform our game and I believe we gave Panathinaikos a good training. I wish we had two more centers in order for the training to become even tougher. I wish Panathinaikos all the best at the F4”.
Next he was asked about the decision concerning AEK staying in the top league, however he did not wish to make a comment… “We, as coaches look at what happens on court. Let us speak of the positive issues not the only the negative”, he stated. As far as Peristeri he added: “We had a really tough season. I do not wish to make a public statement of what is to happen next. Things are tragic”.
Finally Scott stated: “Panathinaikos is a superb team. Great team that has quality and it is a great experience for our players to be competing against them in the play-offs. It is a great team, with very clever players and a great coach”.
