During the press conference on Panathinaikos’ game tomorrow in the context of the Euroleague Top16 2nd competition date, Zeljko Obradovic spoke about defense, offence, players who help, efficiency and, of course, Unics Kazan. All that took place with his collaborator Dimitris Itoudis next to him and in the presence of Thanassis Giannakopoulos and team manager, Manos Papadopoulos.
“We are facing a team that has the same record as we do in Euroleague. They lost twice: to Barcelona and to Sienna at home, but won in the away game. In their first Top16 game, they found themselves down by 17 points but managed to turn the game around and defeat Fenerbahce. This is a team that has great experience, with players that have been competing in Europe for many years and know how they must play. Offensively, this is a team that makes a lot of three-point shots and goes to the offensive rebound. Undoubtedly, defense will once again be the key to winning the game. This means that we must contest all shots. This also means that we must bring down their shot percentages and I believe that this is a key to the game. As every Top16 game, this too is important and I believe that we will have our fans with us and that this will be one more beautiful night at the OAKA. All our players are well, no-one has any problems whatsoever, and this is very good.”
Answering a question as to whether winning tomorrow’s game is a “must”, Obradovic underlined: “There is no kind of imperative need to win. It is just one more Top16 game and is important. Our goal is to rank amongst the eight best teams in the competition. We do not know yet the number of victories this will require. Undoubtedly this is an important game, but there is no pressure that we “must” win. It is just another game and a very important Top16 game as such. We are certainly thinking that they too have 2 points, one victory, same as we do. Therefore, yes, in this sense it is an important game. I do not think that getting the players in a “must” mindset helps. We know that we must play aggressively and play as we performed in the game in Milan, we know that his is a home game, but you never say that we MUST win. It is wrong to say that. Maybe at this point it would be good to say that Unics Kazan is not a big name as a club, but it is very-very good as a team, having experienced players who know how to play. I am also talking about the way its coach handles its roster. In the second half of the game against Fenerbahce he did not make any substitution at all. He played with five players. This is very difficult against a team such as Fenerbahce/Ulker; what they did is not that easy and shows that they have quality. They have a lot of possible solutions, because they have two big guys, Jawai and Savrasenko, while they also have Veremeenko, who is very important defensively, because they make switches and do not commit turnovers…We must understand their defense. I talk about this because in their last game they tried to run and took a lot of free shots. Players such as Domercant do not think about it…15 shots? 15 shots…it does not matter.”
Zeljko Obradovic was asked whether this game would possibly be one more test for some players, as he has stated in the past that more players must help the team: “No…what I am thinking is that we must play the same way we have played in the last games. Everyone must help the team. I have been here 13 years and this rule has not changed. It is the same rule: everyone must be ready. I do not care about the names, and who each of them is. Whether one plays for 15 seconds or for 39’15’’ they must be ready to help, to fight for the team. During a game a coach has many reasons to make a substitution. The obvious reason is when a player does not perform well and this is easy for everyone to understand. But there is also the case of making a substitution as part of the plan we have made or because it is necessary for the game matchups…”
Then followed a question much in the same spirit, that is to say, whether the team “needs more players”, implying the participation of all the players available to Panathinaikos at the moment: “Who was our top scorer in Milan? Logan. He only played in the second half and he was the top scorer. So, this is my answer to you. Everyone scored…to me it is not important how many points each of them scored. To me, whether a player scores 40 points or 4 points is not of interest. The important thing is that the team plays well; and there, in Milan, it played a good game. I do not care who executes. What I want is that when they are in a position to take the shot to go ahead and do it; to not think about it. All that we care about is our offensive options. All 16 players understand who creates the game in the team, so the point is not who executes; the point is to make the right choice.”
The game against KAOD and the fact that one of their big guys, Michel, scored 22 points, was dropped to the table, vis-à-vis the way Unics Kazan plays and its own big guys: “Believe you me: even if he had scored 55 points I still would not care. Besides, these 22 points were the outcome of Mr. Haralabidis’ and other peripheral players’ productivity. Yes, this is the way Unics plays, with pick’n’rolls and the big guys “diving” for the shot. I wish that tomorrow we have the same problem we had against KAOD: have Jawai score 22 points and us getting the same result we got on Saturday (laughter).”
The discussion shifted to defense: “Defense is always the key. There is no such thing as perfect defense, because even if your opponent scores 10 points, you will always wonder why. People who play basketball, some colleagues of mine, some people who know basketball, say that defense is willpower, wish to play and nothing more. This is one of the most stupid things I have ever heard. Defense is serious work and a work that you must do for nine months in order to be ready. What they say about “putting your heart to it and you are ready” is the stupidest thing! Wanting to play defense is not enough. In a single offense there may be a minimum of 6 rotations, so you must explain to the player where he has to be in each case in order to do a good defensive job. Do you understand how difficult a work this is? You know my friend that you may see a player shooting and the opponent stands with his hands down? This is a mistake. Every shot must be contested… Raise your hands, make it hard for the opponent and if he succeeds in his shot bravo to him! …But you have at least made it hard for him. We will never be satisfied with the level of defense. We will always believe that we could have played better. The same goes for the offence, too. In theory, many say that offence starts from good defense, but the contrary is also true. If you do not commit turnovers, you do not allow your opponent the opportunity to run and score in offence.”
At the end of the press conference, Zeljko Obradovic thanked Thanassis Giannakopoulos for attending it. Thanassis Giannakopoulos also watched the team’s practice session at the OAKA afterwards.
