The coach of Panathinaikos, Aleksandar Djordjevic, stated after the game against Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul: "First of all, it's a great win because of how we are, the situation physically that we are in. It was the toughest game for our guards. Darussafaka has a great offensive perimeter line, great ball handlers, and it was a really good defensive effort. It's a huge win for us, one of the biggest this season, for sure... It was a difficult game against an opponent that has a lot of good perimeter players and the talent to defend against the double teams. Since Dimitris Diamantidis was not available, some players have to come out and they did it the right way. Nick Calathes played with great concentration and I have to say that I am very proud to coach this team. I like the way we reacted after the three last losses. We proved that we are together as a team. I like that we are fighting all together. All the players feel the honor to be here and are good teammates. Sasha Pavlovic and Vladimir Jankovic played good defense tonight, and I think that we should have won in an easier way, but we committed many mistakes and we allowed them to score on the fastbreak. It is always hard to move the psychology of the players after consecutive bad results, but it worked. It is not possible to have the same energy for 40 minutes, but the team gives its best to stay competitive. MarQuez Haynes who will join us is the player we need to get better. He has talent, athleticism and the hunger to show his quality. He needs a good environment to prove how good he is and play his game. He can either create or score and has the ability to play one on one and push the team on offense."
From the other side, the coach of Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul, Oktay Mahmuti, said: "Congratulations to Panathinaikos for their win. It has been a tough game for both teams, which was decided by the details. In the last minutes we has some bad decisions and missed free throws. We have lost a couple of games like that and this is really frustrating. You don't accept losing because of unexpected turnovers, but this is the game, this is basketball. We came here to win and we will keep fighting in every game to do so."
