“There is no such thing as an unbeatable team”
Next stop Russia for Panathinaikos. The Greens are flying without absences today, heading to Moscow, where tomorrow (February 14, 18.00) they will be facing CSKA in THY Euroleague Top16 game 7.
Head Coach of Panathinaikos, Argyris Pedoulakis, referred to the team’s need to focus only on the ensuing season, leaving the Greek Cup Final behind: “It is quite a tough and away game across from a full and quality team, which seems injured lately after losing to Unicaja Malaga; a loss which might be regarded as out-of-schedule for CSKA. We must focus after the Cup Final; depressurize the team after a series of important encounters in just a short period of time which concluded in the conquering of the title. There was no time window, since competitive obligations were continuous but we must focus on what’s up next. Mind will play an important role in the way the game will turn out”.
Kostas Tsartsaris also made special notation to the mind factor: “After a success usually everyone’s mind is somewhere else. It was good for our confidence. It is not at all easy to build confidence in such a new team. Especially for the new guys winning the Cup was very important. Day by day, practice by practice confidence and mentality are being built. Returning however and examining what’s in store next, is one of the bets we must win in the encounter versus CSKA. The mind must concentrated only on the tough encounter up ahead and from which if we leave as winners we will be closer to qualifying to the next round. There is no such thing as an unbeatable team. We know our opponent’s weak spots and we have seen teams beat it. Using these games as a guide, we want to challenge the win, play as equal to equal. CSKA is a very-very good team, with an eye on the title; but our eyes are also set on the very same target. There is no question of a rematch. What happened in Istanbul is in the past. We are off to play as if the one team has never before faced the other.
Numbers
*Dimitris Diamantidis is way close to becoming the best… burglar in the all time Euroleague list. He has 325 and is only 3 steals away from top of the list Thodoris Papaloukas.
*Diamantidis is only three blocked shots away from becoming the first guard in the all time Euroleague list ever to have reached 100.
*Kostas Tsartsaris needs only 4 good threes in order to reach 100 throughout his Euroleague career.
*Stephane Lasme continues to lead Euroleague on the least of players with the most blocked shots per game, behind 2. He is also top spot alongside Maccabi Shawn James in offensive rebounds per game, behind 2,8.
*Jonas Maciulis has made at least one three-pointer in all 7 of his last Euroleague games. Through these games he has made 16-to-32 trifectas (50%). He is only one two-pointer away from nailing 1,000 points throughout his Euroleague career.
“Relations”
*Sofoklis Schortsanitis has been teammates with Milos Teodosic and Zoran Erceg.
*Vassilis Xanthopoulos has been teammates with Vladimir Micov in Panionios back in the 2007-08 season.
History
Panathinaikos – CSKA Moscow (Russia) 13-10
2011-12 Euroleague 64-66 (F4 semis)
2011-12 Euroleague 76-78 75-91*
2010-11 Euroleague 74-60 72-68*
2008-09 Euroleague 73-71 (F4 final)
2006-07 Euroleague 93-91 (F4 final)
2005-06 Euroleague 92-82 89-84*
2004-05 Euroleague 73-85 72-75*
2004-05 Euroleague 94-91 (F4 3rd pl/g)
2003-04 Euroleague 58-69 68-75*
2001-02 Euroleague 91-85* 83-80
2000-01 Euroleague 57-69* 89-81
1995-96 Euroleague 81-71 (F4 semis)
1994-95 Euroleague 70-77* 101-77
1981-82 Euroleague 80-83* 87-83
