Zeljko Obradovic and Dimitris Diamantidis represented Panathinaikos at the Euroleague F4 Press Conference. The exhibition was held at Barcelona Town Hall, in an impressive 14th century building right in the center of the city. Obradovic and Diamantidis stated their trust in the their team, the players/teammates keeping all at low key. Next to them David Blatt and Sofoklis Schortsianitis for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Simone Pianigiani and Rimantas Kaukenas for Montepaschi Siena, Emanuele Molin and Felipe Reyes for Real Madrid, as was Euroleague Basketball President and CEO Jordi Bertomeu.
Zeljko Obradovic stuck the sentiment of the statements he had made in Athens from his very first sentence: “We will try to do the best possible, but also enjoy it. We are all too happy to be here, that we will see basketball friends from all over Europe. I hope it will be a basketball festivity. We will try to perform a good game in order to please the spectators. I would like to wish good luck to each and every team competing, because beyond all doubt they are the best teams in Europe this season”.
Dimitris Diamantidis was asked if he had any kind of advice to offer towards the rest of the players on the panel since being the only one out of the four to have conquered a Euroleague trophy in the past. Although it was by… no means the appropriate day for such pointers, Diamantidis managed to answer in the best possible manner: “I don’t believe I have any advice to offer. Each player here know what he has to do in order to mount to conquering the trophy. What I can say with every certainty is that so much myself, as my coach are really happy to be here. We hope people have fun, see a good performance and that in the end we manage to win the title”.
“Give us a chance”
Simone Pianigiani, Head Coach to Montepaschi Siena, called upon his humor in order to speak of the semifinal across from Panathinaikos: “I am very excited, as is everyone to be here. It is something very special for us to be representing a small town. We will have to see if Zeljko will be less aggressive across from us and if he will give us a chance to win this time”, he stressed to make a smile appear on Obradovic’s face, only to add: “We will try our best. That is all we did up to now and it got us this far. The level is extremely high, we went down a hard road in order to get where we are now and we are happy and proud of it”.
Rimantas Kaukenas, guard to Montepaschi Siena, is taking part in the second F4 of his career, competing for the Italian team, only difference that in his first, due to an injury he had not been able to compete: “It wasn’t easy… I lived through quite a few tough moments. I don’t think you can offer much sidelined. The only thing you can do id try continuously to stand by our teammates, boost their confidence and help them in any way possible. Surely, what I hope now, it to be able to offer my team more now than what the last time. That my help will be more substantial”.
“Very proud of the… guy sitting next to me”
Obradovic was asked if he believes basketball to be more of a coach’s game, as everybody supports the idea that his presence is the catalyst for Panathinaikos’s successes. The Head Coach to the clover denied it, turning the attention to Dimitris Diamantidis seated next to him: “Basketball is primarily a player’s game. They are the most important. And I am very happy and proud to have this guy next to me in my team. Because he is a leader, a captain and he knows what he must do in order to situate himself in the final for yet another occasion. That is all we are thinking of at this moment. The semifinal with Siena and further”.
Diamantidis and Kaukenas when asked if they really view Montepaschi Siena to be a basketball hybrid of Panathinaikos, as far as its competing style replied, Diamantidis first stating: “Every team, the same for Montepaschi Siena has its own philosophy and strategy. Through the video we saw certain elements, certain similarities but also certain differences. We have a specific style and philosophy and I do not believe it is a micrograph of Panathinaikos. I believe we have to give it 100% in order to nail the win versus this team and we must be very well prepared for whatever obstacle might present itself during the game”
Rimantas Kaukenas answered respectively: “I must agree with Dimitris. Both similarities and differences exist. The team is very well prepared. It is a game, a semifinal, we have our own identity and we have our way to play, our own approach and Panathinaikos certainly has his way, as anyone can easily see. We must perform our game. The… differences can be count down after the end of the clash. But as I said similarities and differences do exist and we would like to focus on them”.
Pianigiani referred to what it is like to be facing a team with Head Coach Zeljko Obradovic at the steering wheel: “To be playing against a team coached by Zeljko, always forces you to think. It is a procedure that improves you, because you look, search for things… It will be a very special game for us. We have contained Panathinaikos in the past, as has Panathinaikos stopped us. We know they respect us a team and that is important. I would like to hope that a good game will be played, as one does every time we meet”.
Having coached Badalona this maintaining a bond with the city of Barcelona, Obradovic was questioned if the fact that the F4 is being held in the capital of Catalonia makes it an ever more important deal for him: “The feeling is great for me, since I have many friends here. I love this town, whenever I come I am very happy to be here because it is a town passionate with basketball. We went through a tough season, like in the series versus Barcelona, which was a favorite for the trophy. Wherever the F4 takes place I will be happy however, as far as my team is present in it”.
