Panathinaikos flies today (27/3, 14.50) to Spain without absentees for the Euroleague game against Barcelona (28/3, 21.45) for Top16, Round 12.
Fragkiskos Alvertis has 13 players in the team's delegation. Before taking off, Alvertis stated: "Our goal is to win. Barcelona is in excellent shape and they remain undefeated. For us this is yet another final. We have to play our way and get the victory. We don't want to talk about "if" and "when". We move on game by game and at the end we'll see what we achieved. Barcelona plays in a fast pace and they have great players in all positions. Our weapon is defense. We want to play hard in defense and to run in offense. We have to play well for the victory".
Alvertis was asked about Gist's return: "Gist is a really good player and he helps the team in many ways. He is not 100% ready, since he has practiced only twice or three times after coming back from his injury. But this doesn't matter. The positive thing is that we are all together, strong, heading for the victory".
Gist: Barcelona will lose at some point
James Gist stated to the media that he is "happy to return in action" and he added: "Finally, the time to play again is here. My injury forced me to be sidelined for a long time and it was something that was killing me every day, because I wasn't able to help my team. We are prepared for a very difficult game in Barcelona. They are a great team and it's something you can see clearly on the standings, since they are undefeated in Top16. But they will lose at some point. We all hope that his will happen tomorrow. It would be a very important win for us, since it will help us achieve our goal".
Curry: We can get the win
Ramel Curry stated "happy to return for a Euroleague game. I am ready to face Navarro and the rest of the really good guards in Barcelona's roster. They have a great team, with quality players who can harm you if you don't pay attention. They play really well, especially in Top16 and that's why they are undefeated. We try hard in every single practice and we want all this effort to come alive during the games. Our goal is to perform as good as we can in defense and to play faster in offense, in order to reach a higher score and to get the positive result. I repeat that this is a really difficult game against a team which looks like a well oiled machine. We have to perform really well in order to get the win".
