At the press conference after the game, Zeljko Obradovic appeared angry with his players’ performance after the third period, stating however that he is proud of the team performance in the first 3 quarters of the game.
“I am very proud of the way we played for 30 minutes and very angry about the way we played in the last 10 minutes that led us to overtime. The worst thing is to believe that you cannot win. This is the feeling I got at the end. I had a different feeling from the desire my players had in their eyes”, said Obradovic initially and went on to say that: “in any case, this was a very good game for us. It was very good for us to understand our possibilities and how hard we must fight. We had a clear plan as to the way we would play. We had Kostas Tsartsaris in mind, since he is very important to us, but we lost him and our plans changed. This is why Sato played almost throughout the entire first half. Our plans, of course, also changed by the fact that Diamantidis only played for 20’ due to the fouls he had been charged with. But even so, I believe that the game was in our hands. Watching some moments of the game now it is easy for one to recognize that CSKA was lucky in some things; but luck is also part of the game.”
Obradovic made special reference to the Panathinaikos’ fans: “Congratulations to our fans for the exceptional atmosphere they created. For us, it was difficult to find offensive solutions in overtime, but I still believe that we lost the game at the end of the last quarter. The conclusion we drew is very simple: we can play good basketball, but some players need to play better. As all previous seasons, this season too every player is important to us. I want to see the will to win in their eyes for 40’; I want them to be ready to give it their all; everything they have in them without getting disappointed. They must continue playing, running, chasing the ball, not giving up, not stopping; they must fight ‘till the end of the game. This is the only way for us to play at this level. I believe in my players, I have told them, and I hope they understand it. Calathes shot is the last thing on my mind today. He is young and will learn; he will improve. Watch how he played three years ago and see how he plays now. This is the last thing I care about", he ended up saying.
On the other side, Jonas Kazlauskas said: “We are very happy for this victory because very few teams can defeat Panathinaikos in this arena in front of these fans; but this is just the beginning of the season. At the beginning of the game we had a lot of problems in offense. We did not read the game well in Panathinaikos’ zone defense. We committed many turnovers and had a lot of problems. The good thing is that we did not stop competing; we fought to the end and that is why we won.”
He was then asked how different it feels to come to this arena, the OAKA, coaching a team other than Olympiakos. “It was definitely different. The reaction of the fans is different. Now they are simply supporting their team and do not see the game as a war. I like that…”
Finally, when asked whether Diamantidis’ fouls played a significant role he said: “Clearly it was a problem, but some of our players too had a lot of fouls; this is the way the game is, and each game is going to be different.”
