Panathinaikos prevailed over KAOD at the OAKA indoors arena and Zeljko Obradovic had only positive remarks to make, without however omitting to refer to the fans, and answering a question regarding Sarunas Jasikevicius’ presence with the team.
“We had very little time to prepare after our trip back from Milan. In fact, we only had a single practice session which I would characterize more as a regeneration practice, in order to get time for a respite but also be able to play today. Once again, within 48 hours we have managed to play a good game with high concentration. One of the reasons why the game was a good one was also KAOD, which came here to really play basketball, and not like some other teams do, teams that come here to play slow basketball, with lucky shots. KAOD played good basketball and came here with the purpose of playing seriously and competitively. This is a very good thing for basketball… I wish them good luck in the rest of their games. I would also like to thank the fans that came to the arena today and hope that on Wednesday attendance will be higher, because we are facing an excellent team.
Obradovic was asked about Sarunas Jasikevicius’ presence with the team and the way he moves on court; he replied: “He is a player who understands basketball more than anyone else. It is always good to have such players on your team. Saras today compared to Saras when he had come to the team the first time is the same person, as far as basketball is concerned…He is maybe a bit more mature since he is now married and is expecting his second child. Everything he does during the game is good for all of us.”
Next to Panathinaikos’ coach during the press conference was Aleks Maric: “We played well and stayed focus, despite the fact that we did not have much time to prepare for it after the game in Milan. We must also thank KAOD for the good game we have had. The key to it was keeping our concentration throughout all 40 minutes of the game.”
KAOD coach, George Kalafatakis, underlined: “We came here to play a game that was more of a procedural nature, enjoy the game, and give more play-time to some of the guys who had not played that much. I believe that for 30 minutes we were quite competitive. Hunt’s injury was very important for us, because it wore Haralabidis out and placed a lot of burden on some of the guys. Michel made the most of this opportunity today. He had not had many games and had so far not taking a lot of initiative. This game was not part of our goals. Panathinaikos impressed me by its performance in Milan. The final score in the game between us does not do our performance justice, but for us the next game against Kolossos Rhodes is the one that is important.”
Guy Michel stated: “We did the best we could. Panathinaikos deserved to win; it is a very mature team for such games. As far as I am concerned, there is no…transformation. I always try to do the best I can and this is what I did today too.”
*Tomorrow afternoon Panathinaikos will begin its preparation for the game against Unics Kazan
