Panathinaikos is already at OAKA. Less than 24 hours after their last practice here, they are back for the practice in 2014, heading to the game against EA7 Emporio Armani Milano, for the Euroleague Top16 premiere.
Argyris Pedoulakis, coach of Panathinaikos, spoke to the journalists had his wishes to give: "I would like to wish a happy new year for everybody, because we are going through a tough period in our country. I wish hope and solidarity will help everybody. We have to try to become better individuals and to help our country and our children to have a better future".
Speaking about the Euroleague Top16, Pedoulakis stated: "All teams have ambitions. It's a really strong and tough group. In this second phase teams will be more focused. EA7 Emporio Armani Milano is a team with a lot of talent, especially in the perimeter and now with Hackett they got stronger. They like open the court, to play one on one, because they have talent in this type of game as individuals. We'll try to stop them in this area, to enforce our type of game. Top 16 is a Marathon of 14 continuous games, without a pause. This premiere is just the start line of this Marathons and it's important for every team. It will play a great part psychologically but also in the classification".
His wish for the team? "What else could I ask for? Health... I would like everybody to be healthy and not only the team's players. We found ourselves in a difficult place with all the injuries, which they have left their marks on us. So for us the most important is health. For everybody!"
Mike Batiste began his own quotes with the same word: "First of all I would like to wish to everybody in the team to be healthy and strong. If we are healthy and strong, good things will happen to us. We want to begin in Top16 in the right way and this will happen if we win tomorrow. EA7 Emporio Armani Milao is a very athletic team, they are good when playing one on one and we have to be focused, we have to play really well in defense. We have to play as a team. The key will be the defense. Every Euroleague game is difficult, but we are up for the challenge. I believe that we play a little bit better and we had a couple of strong practices these days. There is no easy game, no matter how big they are or not. Their perimeter line will be a challenge for us and we have to accept this challenge, hoping that we will be the winners at the end of the game. It will be difficult. Some people may say that we are the favorite, but everything can happen in a basketball game. Every dog has its day and we have to come out strong. If we don't do that we'll have a difficult night ahead of us. We want a positive result in our first step in Top16 and we have focused to achieve our goal. Improvement comes with the experience. You have to take it one game at a time and not turn your head further ahead. We are in a tough group, we have good possibilities, but we have to think only up to the next game. We have to do some things that will help us win. We know of what we are capable of. We had our ups and downs, but we are ready to face the Top16 challenge".
The fact that on New Year's Day the team is on the court, seems normal to Stephane Lasme: "It doesn't matter. We have to stay focused, because we have a game ahead of us and to be here on a day like that is part of our job. It's the beginning of Top16, we are getting back to work and we have to focus on our first game. I will not refer to what already has happened in Euroleague, but what will happen from now on. We focus on tomorrow".
When asked about the way Panathinaikos performed against Olympiacos and the win in the Cup Semifinal, Lasme noted: "The game against Olympiacos was really good for us. We won but it wasn't the best we could do. I believe that there are a lot of things that we have to improve. Nevertheless I am positive about the game against EA7 Emporio Armani Milano. I haven't watched them playing so far, but we have already talked about them in scouting. They are good in defense, they have a really strong perimeter line. The only solution always in to get out there and play hard".
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