Panathinaikos is in Malaga with the presence of Marcus Banks and Vassilis Xanthopoulos, however without Gaios Skordilis, where tomorrow (20.45, Novasports3), it will be facing Unicaja for THY Euroleague Top16 game 10.
Argyris Pedoulakis recognizes the encounter’s difficulty level, as also the fact that main element towards achieving victory is pace control: “Unicaja Malaga is a team which likes to pick up the pace, which enforces pressure to grab an offensive board and is also a team that will present itself on court behind great motivation after the home defeat from Zalgiris Kaunas. It is only natural that it will want to react. On the other hand we had certain injury issues; we are still not sure if Banks will be able to help us. We are playing improved compared to how we did for first round, we have a better pace, but we must be careful and ready to respond to the energy Unicaja Malaga will bring out on the floor”.
James Gist will be returning to familiar territory in Malaga, since that is where the season found him to start off with, before him being swapped with Andy Panko to wear the Panathinaikos jersey: “We must try to keep a stable performance. Our mind must be focused on the game and the game alone, because it will be a really tough matchup. During the first round we managed to control the rhythm, but Unicaja fought down to the wire. In spite of us getting a good distance, it managed to pick up the slack and the winner was ultimately defined in one-two possessions. We must be prepared to fight, to control the pace and minimize points Unicaja might gain from fast breaks. We must shoot well, be balanced in both defense and offense and win the battle of the boards”.
Numbers
Dimitris Diamantidis tied JR Holden’s Euroleague record of 164 initial line-ups participations. Tomorrow versus Malaga it is expected for him to fly ahead of Holden. The Panathinaikos captain is getting ready for yet another achievement since he is only 3 blocks shy of 100. Once he reaches them he will be the first guard ever to have accomplished such an achievement.
The clash versus Unicaja Malaga will be participation number 100 for Jonas Maciulis in Euroleague…May he reach… 1,000…
Jonas Maciulis is Panathinaikos’ only player to have been present on the team’s initial line up for all Panathinaikos’ Euroleague games given this season. Also, he and Mike Bramos are the only clover players to have participated in every single game.
Roko Leni Ukic is getting ready for his records: He needs 27 points in order to hit 1,000 for Euroleague and 6 good triples in order to reach 100.
Kostas Tsartsaris is only 4 good threes away from 100 in his Euroleague career.
Stephane Lasme still leads Euroleague in blocked shots behind his 2.1 pg average, while in Top16 he also leads in offensive rebounds, gathering 2.7 per game.
Mike Bramos has drained at least one trifecta in all of his 10 last Euroleague games.
“Relations”
Not many to declare… There is one and a not so usual one, since in January Panathinaikos and Unicaja Malaga proceeded to commit a player-swap. Panathinaikos signed on James Gist, Andy Panko to follow the opposite direction…
