Zeljko Obradovic and Dimitris Itoudis spoke in today’s press conference held at the indoor OAKA stadium concerning the Barcelona F4. They made reference to the team’s preparation, to Montepaschi Siena, to there amongst each other collaboration, Obradovic taking a trip down memory lane to his first F4 back in 1992, speaking also about the importance of both Panathinaikos and its fans to him personally.
“We feel great to be in a Final Four for yet another occasion. We went through period of time during which we faced issues of concentration and motivation for the players, as far as the Greek League game were concerned. And it was all too apparent in the last game we played with Peristeri. So much in yesterday’s as in today’s practice focus was much better. The players now know where they are going and the reason they have to play. And knowing what happened over Europe, we saw that all 4 Eurolague finalists performed poorly: Maccabi took the game into OT, Siena lost at home, Real Madrid lost and we went into OT. We could say that everything is natural. For us it is important to understand what is going in with Siena . It all the Italian League games their coach decided not to use two important players. Always two players were sidelined; in the last game Jaric and Rakovic in the previous ones, other players. They have a team with deep rotation and in the F4 it will use 12 players. There are McCalebb, Jaric and Zissis, in SG position Kaukenas, Moss and Aradori, two players for both SG and SF positions, Carraretto and Hairston, a really important player for them and they have 6 tall guys. Amongst them Lavrinovic, Stonerook
And Rakovic are the players with the largest competing time, whilst the less goes to Michelori, Akindele and Ress. The team might opt for 8 perimeter players and 4 tall guys or 5 and 7 respectively but it is of no importance. We must be ready. It is a team in which every player performs aggressively, competes in order to help the team. They know how to play, it is something we know all too well and found out when we competed in the play-offs against them. Although they have new players, the coach is the same and so is the philosophy almost the same. They we try to enforce pressure, perform behind zone-press, switch defense to half court, go for 3-2 zone formation or even 2-3, man-to-man… It is something we must acknowledge and maintain our concentration regardless of any defense they choose to play. It is vital that we do not turnover the ball, because it is exactly the way they like to compete: To steal the ball and run the field to the easy basket. They are also very effective when it comes to the offensive rebound. Turnovers and rebounds are the two elements we must control if we wish to prevail”.
Dimitris Itoudis through his approach to the matter, stressed: “It is a great honor for Panathinaikos to be going to a 7th Final Four. It is the greatest of honors and we hope not to remain at that. We are not intending to go over there for the photos, but in order to challenge whatever we are worth, to try. For yet another occasion we must control the issue of sentiments, because in a F4 so many things take place which call for management. With the coach as the leader and all the rest of us who have the experience we must make so that we do not lose coordination and manage situations sticking concentrated on basketball. Coach already said everything concerning Siena . I would like to add only, that during the series versus Olympiakos it reached a great accomplishment even greater than us disqualifying Barcelona , in the sense that it handled a series in which it lost the first encounter by a huge deficit, something that gives proof of true character. The fact that it one three consecutive games next, shows that they have exquisite character, apart from skills and knowledge plus the fact that McCalebb was not active. Since then they have gained a player, Jaric, they have been re-enforced with McCalebb hence the rotation has broadened. An important element is the offensive rebound, the aggressiveness, Stonerook the player to sound the horn. It can compete both at low or high score. We will try to bring forward are best self, each and everyone of us, all the people involved, the entire team opting towards helping Panathinaikos”.
Zeljko Obradovic was asked about defensive rebounds, seeing that in contrast to offensive boards, Montepaschi Siena seems to face issues in that department: “It is something that might happen many times depending on the way you choose to play. When you switch defenses a lot of times it means that you might be experiencing mismatches under the bucket. It is something that concerns us coaches. You make your choices you win some you lose some. You are offensive, you switch, challenge the ball, intercept, shoot but you have an issue when it comes to the rebound. They now the trouble they have, I am sure. The small details count; everybody knows what is there good and what their bad aspect is”.
Obradovic’s experience has become a reference point for many and it is an issue which has surfaced these last days: “It is not the first time that everybody speaks of my experience. And they do it because they do not want to feel the pressure. It is logical from their point of view. I am calm; I try to prepare my team for this semifinal. We stated nothing about Real Madrid and Maccabi. For us the F4 at this very moment in time is the clash versus Siena . We have players who have great experience; there are a few who are going for the first time. The prior must help the latter. It is just another basketball game. We must go over there and enjoy it”.
As far as the games versus Montepaschi Siena two years ago in the Euroleague play-offs being a guideline for the 2011 semifinal, Obradovic stated: “There is a huge difference amongst then and now. Now it is a single game. During the play-offs you need three wins. Now it is a single 40 minute game. And I believe that we will try, Siena will try also in order to understand what we mean to do against it. It is a good thing. We coaches prepare the game before the jump-ball, but the moment the game begins you always think “I need half an hour more in order to try something else out”. But this is something that happens in everyone’s life. What we recognize is that we must be prepared for any situation that might play out during the game; we must react to every occasion that might arise. The game versus Siena will be most interesting for us since it is a team for which we harbor the greatest respect so much as a team as the technical staff; to both Simone Pianigiani and his co-workers”.
His presence at his team’s bench is something of a guarantee for the team’s friends. How does he face this fact? “The truth is simple. I do not listen so much and do not care so much about what people say, further than Panathinaikos’s friends’ opinion. I know that people believe in me. The sentiment is sensational. You feel proud, because something occurred in order to reach this point. The 12 years led here and all that is being said is not due to Obradovic being a good person of a bad person. Results talk. And the people know that in every given occasion I will protect all that Panathinaikos stands for (he states tugging at the Panathinaikos’s logo on his track suit jacket and pointing at it with emphasis). It is not only me, but the entire staff, everybody that is here, the team. Panathinaikos has results the last years because its presidents love the team, they invest enough money in order for us to have a good squad, have good players which is the most important factor and last but not least we have our fans. All these parties together mean that we will win the titles. And I do not how many finals we have competed in until now but we all managed it all together! I feel proud that friends all over Europe call me and people from here that all love Panathinaikos and tell me that they wish to come, to be close to us, and ask for tickets. I do not have the possibility to help everyone out. I tried but it is hard. Moreover it is important also that all these people wish to support us. It is something we must all understand: Why we compete, for whom we compete and what the atmosphere will be over there”.
When posed a questioned concerning his first ever presence in a F4, back in 1992 in Constantinople , he answered: “I remember my first F4. I had the experience of a player in Gant from 1988. I tried to be alone, with my players in the hotel, to not be bothered by anyone, no one to interrupt out concentration which was mandatory for a F4. Every F4 was something special. In the semifinal we were up against Milano, which we had already beat twice during the regular season; however everyone viewed it to be the favorite. Ok… superb motivation for all of us. In the final we faced Badalona … They were two down to the wire encounters. We were watching an NBA encounter and the commentator said “it’s good to be young”… Something like that. Six players on that team had never even competed outside their country yet. And when you are young he motivation is always special. I will never forget having next to me the great professor Aleksandar Nikolic. After winning the title he came to congratulate me and his said “I wish you many more titles next”. And I remember thinking then to myself “ok, he is old, he has lost his mind, what is he talking about? This is it… I will never win anything else in the future…” Of course the future turned out to be a bit different and I guess he knew what he was talking about after all…”
At this point he drove his attention towards Dimitris Itoudis only to add: “Something which is very important to me in order to fell calm is this guy here… I know that regardless whatever I forget he will always be by my side in order to remind me of it, to help me out. And you must know that I always forget something”.
*Absent from this morning’s practice was Drew Nicholas who experienced a fever and it was decided to be more preferable for him to stay home.
