Argyris Pedoulakis, head coach of Panathinaikos, slightly after Panathinaikos’ victory against Panionios for the quarterfinals of the Greek Cup stated: “It was the first official game in front of our fans. As I told my players at 30’, our greatest opponent was the hesitation from the new guys. They must managed “what must”. When you are in Panathinaikos, the teams come without pressure while you are the one who must control this pressure. Sofo was relaxed in the second quarter, Maciulis competing at PF created trouble. In the last quarter we found players able to create, we made shots, rotated the ball sweetly. We need games, because we are preparing for the Euroelague, with no other official game in between. We noticed things on court, for example the 15 turnovers were way too many. It was an issue and we must deal with it in views of the tougher encounters.
To a question in reference to what is missing at this point from the team, Pedoulakis responded: “First and foremost the automations and the unison at both ends of the court. We are also lacking two of our players, Lasme and Kitchen, the latter being the one to offer breathers to our guards. We are missing games and unison, working all together, understanding the game even further. Panionios changed, the big man stayed on the guard and we failed to read it even though the experience exists. In the end we were calmer. Panathinaikos is a team which likes to play using brains. And this is not something that happens automatically. You cannot push a button and get it done. You go through elementary school, junior high and you proceed. The team had the same players for years, the same torso. This changed. Brainsis talent. To play behind 200 beats per minute and be able to think at the same time”.
Kostas Tsartsaris (Panathinaikos player): “I wish above and before anything else a good season to all. Today’s game was of a special nature, since we are a new found team and we competed in the presence of our fans. Moreover, the game had its own special features being a knock-out clash. A defeat would set us off our goal marker. We did exactly what coach requested of us and managed to win. Apart from the essence we must look ahead on the ensuing season and the manner of our game, since it is not yet what we wanted. We must across from Real Madrid next Friday be more prepared. I hope that the Greek League will begin as early as possible. Everyone looks out for his own well being, has his own requests. All we want is simply to play basketball”.
Thanassis Skourtopoulos (Panionios coach): “We played a tough game, we had some good but also some bad periods. We are a team with new guys and certain things can be justified. Some other things though can’t. We have more demands in the games across form tough teams, experienced, preparing for a different level. That is where you can see how you measure up. Evidently we were not quite ready yet for such an occasion. Partial score was 26-12 in the fourth quarter. We used time-outs in order to shift the pace, but the team rounded up the quarter behind 3 team fouls. This is proof of the level of readiness each has. We did not use fouls. We paid for this across form a team of quality, well handled, off to run a marathon. We would like for the Greek League to begin normally because these games, the official ones do us good. Finally, I would like to wish good luck to Argyris and Panathinaikos”.
Vladimiros Jankovic (Panionios player): “We tried to play as best as possible and managed it in the first half. From then on, in the second half, we begun strong but we were not as focused as we should have been next. Panathinaikos snatched the opportunity and got away in the score. I believe that in the next games we will present ourselves more prepared since we will have had more time to bond as a team”.
