Pitino: “I think the organization is very disappointed”

The head coach of Panathinaikos OPAP, Rick Pitino stated after the end of the game against CSKA Moscow: "Obviously I think the organization is very disappointed. I think the fans are very disappointed, I think the coaches are very disappointed and I think the players are very disappointed with that type of performance. I can tell you from experience it doesn’t do any good to yell at the players or trash the players. Because we know the problems as coaches, now with seven games remaining and things looking bleak, we've got to find solutions. So complaining about the talent, the mismatches or the shooting, it’s not going to help. We're 8 for 50 from wide-open threes over two games. We have one low-post player, Ian [Vougioukas], and he’s done a wonderful job finally getting into shape, so we give him a lot of credit. We get caught in a lot of defensive mismatches every game and we did tonight, and it cost us dearly. We don’t rebound really well, and that’s been a problem all year. The biggest disappointment I’ve had taking over the team compared to last year, is that last year the number one asset the team had was the fastbreak. This year we’ve gone from averaging 15 to 18 transition fastbreaks to 5 a game. That’s obviously because you give up offensive rebounds, you don’t play great defense, so you don’t get out in transition. And that was the strength of this basketball team last year. When we’ve got to rely on jump shots, that’s not a good sign for us."