Zeljko Obradovic talked in the press conference about the two different faces that the team showed during tonight’s game against Aris. "We had two different faces tonight. Aris was better in the first half and we were clearly out of rhythm. We committed turnovers, did not recognize many situations, and they ran to easy fast-breaks. It is easy for one to see that the game was decided in the second half when Aris played with many young players”, said Panathinaikos’ coach initially only to go on next: “I do not honestly know what was wrong…maybe it was the days off. I know that we must change many things in this playoffs period. The series is now at 1-0 and if we want to go to one more final, we must perform better and take the series to 2-0.”
He was then asked about his opinion regarding the possible start of the playoffs finals after the Final Four… “I think it is too soon to talk about the finals. Many may think logical that Panathinaikos and Olympiakos will be in the finals, but I believe that something is logical only after it has happened first. So let us first beat Aris and then we can talk about the finals”, he said and then complemented: “We are still far from the desirable level. The way to improve is still a long one. Things are simple. In the past three months only Nick Calathes and Dimitris Diamantidis practice on their own in their days off, some others stay after practice to practice shooting, some others simple wait for me to tell them when the next practice session is in order to come, and leave immediately after the end of the practice. Things are simple…”
On his turn, Vangelis Alexandris noted: “We came here to play as strongly as possible and wanted to be competitive despite having many absences. Toward the end we could not last it out. As a team Panathinaikos reigned supreme and won fair and square. We have one game left and we will try to be more competitive for a longer period of time in that game and claim victory, if Panathinaikos allows us to.”
When his turn came, Ian Vougioukas said: “Aris came here to play basketball and went into the game more determined than we were. After the halftime break we turned our picture around and had a separate 26-5 run that actually gave us victory. In the second game we will be playing in a much tougher arena and must get powerfully into the game from the start.”
Finally, Dimitris Verginis underlined: “Little by little this season is coming to an end for us. We knew from the very beginning that we had a tough year ahead of us, but we stood united together and had a good course from Christmas time onward. We wanted to clinch the sixth spot, but failed to make it and facing Panathinaikos we are being realistic about and know what we can and what we cannot do. I think, though, that we did well in the first half, but in the second half Panathinaikos got more powerfully into the game, played much better, and built a big lead that remained such all through to the end. We are now heading for the second game to play as strong as we can for our fans and – why not? – even get victory.”
