Argyris Pedoulakis stated he was satisfied by the way his team played only in the fourth quarter in the game against Lukoil Academic.
"These games are like practices for us. That's the way we confront them. We have the chance to get the new players in the philosophy of the team, to cast roles, but also to give a boost to the confidence of our players. I am not happy by the way the team played during the first three quarters, but at the last one we did what we were supposed to do. We have absentees and it's only logical that this situation creates problems. We are all together for just a few days now, we have practiced all together just three days, but we are getting better day by day.
In these games our strategy has nothing to do with our opponent. No matter who our opponent is we work on our plays. Sometimes we do things that don't help our strategy, but they do help us to get better. It's like a practice. We focus on strategy during the fourth quarter".
Pedoulakis was asked about Nikos Pappas, who was first scorer and rebounder of the game (23pt, 6r): "Pappas is a really good player and he is very capable on creating the game, while at the same time he is really good in executing. But you can find a lot of player who can shoot the ball. Lukoil had a couple. He is very good in offense and I am very happy with his effort in defense, his desire to play, but not his knowledge in this part of the game. He has to work on his focus. Nikos has lost a big part of defensive knowledge. But he is trying really hard and he is really mature. We have to wait 2-3 months and we'll see a big difference. Just like we did with Ukic last year. When a player comes to Panathinaikos goes up a level; basketballwise and mindwise. Nikos has to try even harder. We all encourage him. All together we have to play the way Panathinaikos deserves. We have to play Panathinaikos' basketball. We must all think as one. It's difficult to find guard with his creative talent and at this height. And if you find you will see that they are really expensive. We cannot give that kind of money any more. So we create such players. The same goes for Vlado (Jankovic) too. He has the ability, but there are players ahead of him, who are warriors. He is a 3, but a creative 3. Plus, he has to change his body in order to be more effective in defense. In the future when the team plays with a tall line up, he will be able to play as a guard too".
