Argyris Pedoulakis had nothing but a good word to say about his players at the press conference after the game against Olympiacos for Euroleague, Top16, day 7.
"It was a difficult and tough game for both teams. Olympiacos seemed to be more fresh and it was obvious in rebounding. Our starting point was defense and we were able to stay in the game and to play smart till the end. We have played in a different way in three games in 1.5 months and under different circumstances. We cannot baptize defense, mind games, but you have to read the game. It's not the referees, nor other things to blame. Nothing stands anymore and we demonstrated it today. We respect everybody and we demand to be respected. Last year, after the Cup Final, but also after the first final when we got up to 20 points some people spoke about the referees. Most of Olympiacos' players were saying at the same time that Panathinaikos was just better. Players like Papanikolaou, Sloukas, Law, Hines... We have to think what we say, in order to help ourselves and basketball itself. What Panathinaikos did, is relative, without being of course so tragic, is what Manchester United did. They had to remain with one player. It took them seven years to rebuild a winning team. Last year we had only two players from the previous team and one and a half year later we have three titles. We don't hide anything from our fans. We say everything up front. The big issue is that we have to have -and it's the right thing- Greek players. Bramos came to the team and now 1,5 half year later he is a high level player. We know the problem and we are here to solve it".
Pedoulakis was asked about the performance Roko Leni Ukic had, although he plays injured throughout the season: "Roko had a two year contract. We support our players. We don't want to cut somebody, because he had a misfortune with his national team. Roko has to climb his own mount Golgotha this year. He is trying to be here and to help. Today we made just a few turnovers, but we couldn't transform this in offense. Pappas has to gain by the fact that he played in position one, but his position is two, like Curry. So, we had just Diamantidis as a point guard. Roko cannot make certain moves on the floor, he cannot run, he cannot stop, he cannot jump as he used to. In the game against Panionios, our priority is to rest some players. Ukic tries to play in the right way mentally. We have lost his attribution both in offense and defense and against Unicaja Malaga we missed Gist, especially in defense".
The next question had to do with the fact that Panathinaikos has won Olympiacos three times so far this season: "If you watch since October, but also since last year, all ten games we faced each other we managed to keep Olympiacos under his average in offense. Only we know what is going on in defense. Only we can say how we manage to stop Spanoulis. We analyze every single move he makes. This means hour and hours of work. If it was that simple any time would do it. This is not "mind games". Mind games is to say that Diamantidis is old, while at the same he has won three titles since last year alone. Dimitris is here, he is the captain and the leader and that's it. Only we can talk about what we do and how we prepare the team".
Finally, Pedoulakis spoke about the fans, when he was asked about them: "We want to thank our fans for their support and for the atmosphere during the game. I believe that in general, about the problems we face sometimes in different arenas, it's something that the State must react. I don't want to be caught up in this conversation right now".
Giorgos Bartzokas (coach, Olympiacos) stated: "Today it was a close game, as we all expected. We controlled the rebounds and the rhythm of the game. It was our decision not to contest some shots, like for example Fotsis'. We didn't press Panathinaikos. And that is how one free throw made by Diamantidis, after a foul at the end of a play in offense, in fact decided the winner. Basically the winner was decided by one turnover. Panathinaikos is an experienced team. Even the foul we made at the last second was a mistake. But we have to go on. The first round of Top16 has just finished and our philosophy is to look ahead, learning from our mistakes. We had a certain plan in our game. We had 75% in 2points shots in the beginning. At the end when the game got closed, it's also a matter of instinct. We wanted to pass the ball inside. Printezis and Spanoulis, experienced players, missed open shots. If they had made these shots we would have won. Barcelona won here with a crucial three points shot made by Lorbek. Generally, we had a good plan in a tough place to play. Some decisions made sealed the win for Panathinaikos. They are a team who likes to control the rhythm of the game. We were in control of the score and we thought that we controlled the game at the same time. It's not easy to make it 85 points game against Panathinaikos. Unless you are sharp in perimeter shooting, like Malaga did, and not in OAKA. This was our second loss in OAKA and away from our home. I cannot complain about Spanoulis or any other player. There is pressure, stress and we have to get through it".
