After the game against PAOK, Zeljko Obradovic was troubled with his team’s performance during the first quarter, but also with the continued injury problems (the latest being that of Mike Batiste).
Panathinaikos’ Serbian coach stated: “First of all, I want to congratulate PAOK for playing a very serious and tough game. I believe that the most important thing in basketball is motivation. Compared to the game in Kazan, there was only one change in our starting lineup: Sato instead of Perperoglou. The picture between the two games was completely different; that is the issue. In the first quarter we committed too many turnovers, lost a lot of free throws, all because we had no concentration. It is obvious that there is a problem, since we have two players with injuries, Vougioukas and Perperoglou, and are also waiting to see what happens with Batiste. The important thing is that we need to change the way that we play at the OAKA. In away games we play very well, whereas at home we play very poorly. We must play far more seriously.”
In his turn, Aleks Maric noted: “I want to congratulate the coach and players of PAOK. In the first half we committed many turnovers and certainly did not do the things we should have done. In the second half, we played much better and followed our coach’s instructions. All I have to do is continue fighting. When a player hits a slam, he must find a way to dig himself out of the hole he is in. One has to continue working on it. The important thing for me is that my coaches and teammates believed and continue to believe in me; this is why I kept on working on it and fighting for it.”
PAOK coach, Soulis Markopoulos, said: “Congratulations to Panathinaiikios for their success in Europe and I wish them all the best down the road. We knew they were coming back after a difficult game and might not get to a powerful start in the game. Indeed it was so and we took advantage of it. As time went by, Panathinaikos was coming up with the solutions. We committed a lot of turnovers in the fourth quarter and this cost us. I hope that we perform better in the next games.”
PAOK forward, Efthimis Tsakaleris, stressed: “We knew that this was going to be a tough game. We had prepared for it as best we could. We knew that we had to stay focused for 40 minutes. What gets me wound up is that we remained focused for 30 minutes, but in the end we lost precisely that element: our concentration.”
