The head coach of Panathinaikos OPAP stated after the end of the game against Zalgiris Kaunas: "First of all, I want to say congratulations and give the credit to my players, who tried to keep our plan for 40 minutes. Before the game, we said there would be two keys to this game. Zalgiris's offensive rebounds, because I think they are the second team in the league.
They get a lot of offensive rebounds, especially at home, and the turnovers. We did an excellent job in both aspects: I think we only had 1 turnover in the second half and 8 total and we controlled the rebounds. If I have to say what was the key to this victory, I think that will be these two things.
I think Papagiannis did a really good job because we closed the paint. We had said before the game to risk allowing Zalgiris to take some shots. We knew before the game that they would have the pressure playing at home. Papagiannis gave us size in the paint, under the basket, and did an excellent job, like all the other players.
The guy was a big guy in the paint and controlled the defensive rebounds. I think it was a game that if you play in this kind of court like Zalgiris, it is easy for the players to keep the concentration. I feel like Panathinaikos and Zalgiris, all these years, have the best basketball atmospheres. We like to play here and enjoy everything about the atmosphere. We were ready because we had some bad losses the previous week and the players were focused. It is the only way to win - if you are focused for 40 minutes and you play as a team."
