Panathinaikos will be hosting Zalgiris Kaunas tomorrow (December 28, 22.00) at the indoor OAKA arena in THY Euroleague Top16 Game 1. Argyris Pedoulakis during the pre-game Press Conference, made reference to the clover’s opponent tomorrow, to injury issues but also expressed the notion that the team can actually achieve its next goal.
“The next face is about to begin and we are to face a team which during the regular season performed exceptionally. It is a team which as far as its offensive game establishes its pace through velocity and certain collaborations, depending who is performing on court. It opts for three-pointers, especially on secondary fast breaks. It enforces pressure on first pass, brings out great energy on court and is a Lithuanian school of basketball team. The Lithuanians know basketball; they know how to appeal to the opponents weaknesses… However, it goes without saying that Zalgiris too has weaknesses”.
Next, he spoke of the issues that existed during Panathinaikos’ preparation: “We had two of our basic creators injured. Sofoklis probably will not be able to help us, while we will see how Diamantidis will be tomorrow and how much time he will be able to offer us, so as for us to step out on court on the right foot in this next phase. We also have Gist and Kapono who must “meet up” with the team. We hope that the fans will be with us once more, that they will be present to provide us with energy. All can be overcome when we have the crowd by our side and the friends of Panathinaikos are always next to the team”.
Pedoulakis was asked about the new Top16 game system which now consists of 14 games: “It is the first time that this second round will be played out like this. All things have both a negative and a positive aspect. The negative is that the guys will get not a single breather, there will be no time for a player to rest recovering from an injury, nor will there be time to incorporate certain players. The positive thing is that there is more room to correct a bad result because based on the old system it was almost impossible to do such a thing. The element of luck is omitted and the element of ability is introduced. We are in a tough group, as we were in a tough group during the regular season something that shows up in the final ranking. From now on what counts is competitive ability, how focused one is, how much one might be able to overcome exhaustion from the many trips but also other issues that might come up down the road. It is extremely important that the team remains focused because there will certainly be tiredness both mental and physical. It was entirely different with the old system when the players got a mini recess… They were “put in the shop for maintenance”, they got to rest, overcome some small issues that they might have been faced with and the teams sorted certain things out”.
The next question posed to the Panathinaikos Head Coach was about to which extent Kapono and Gist have bonded within the team: “Kapono is a guy who needs his time, as any other players to be incorporated into the team during the season does. I had told you last time that Banks would go through a down period and it is only natural. During the last few clashes he has not been at the top of his game. Kapono is inputting a great effort in order to get himself where he must. He is getting their mostly due to his mental ability. He is an extremely smart player and it couldn’t be any other way because in order to compete in the NBA without having velocity, you must be a clever guy. Gist has only had a few training sessions with us, he has energy, he will provide us with certain elements we were missing and gradually he will fit in. We will have to sacrifice our rhythm in certain games in order to get him incorporated as it happened with Kapono in the first encounters. It is impossible to avoid it”.
As far as the “dowry” Panathinaikos has from the regular season, proceeding into the Top16, he stressed: “Apart from 3-4 players, all the rest had no prior Euroleague experience or even experience at an equivalent level. Down the road 2-3 players stepped up a level, their self-confidence has been boosted and this helps us even more. Certain games might have been lost due to us being more intimidated than we should have. We anticipate every single minute from now on, to fight at every game. We are in a tough group, but there is the disposition and the ability to achieve our goal”.
