Panathinaikos faces tomorrow (31/1, 21/30) FC Barcelona for Euroleague, Top16, Day 5 in one of the most interesting games t the group. Argyris Pedouakis and Antonis Fotsis referred to the encounter, while the captain of the Greek National Team Men didn't forget to comment on the upcoming decision about FIBA World Cup 2014.
Pedoulakis: Barcelona has a certain philosophy
Pedoulakis referred to the game, as "a difficult encounter" speaking about the way the Catalans play: "Every game in Top16 is crucial for all teams. The game against Barcelona is tough, since we have to face a quality team which has a lot of solutions for every problem on the court. It's a Spanish team, they belong to Spanish basketball school, but they have a plus, since they can play equally well on five vs five. They have the same coach for years, so they have a certain philosophy".
Pedoulakis was asked about his team's improvement in Top16, but also the improvement of Barcelona: "When a team which tries to operate as a whole has injuries, or absentees, a big problem is created. On the other hand these teams have the experience to know when they have to raise their rhythm, because the competition is a Marathon and a lot of the players play also during summer. So, it's important to know when you have to push a little more. It's happening in Euroleague, but also in the NBA".
The role of defense was present: "You learn to be competitive performing in a high level. we have said before that in different games data change. So, you have to have to have something steady, which will function no matter what. For example the days you are not good in offense. We haven't lost games with big margins if you have noticed. Even when everything seemed to go wrong, we turned thing around through defense. This is our point of reference. In whole Europe the leaders are really few and it would be stupid not to adjust our game in our leader. This is why a lot of teams give a lot of money but don't manage to reach the top. Because they miss this element. Panathinaikos has Diamantidis. Maybe we could run a little bit more especially after some good defenses, but we are working on this part of the game and there are players who can make it happen".
Pedoulakis was asked if Navarro is one of these leaders: "Of course! He is the leader of FC Barcelona because when things get tough, everybody look for Navarro. There is the good player, the good player to be... But this is something different. Few of all the players are leaders. It's Navarro, Diamantidis, Spanoulis, Rodriguez..."
If you are wondering if Pedoulakis remembers last year's play offs, he gives the answer: "Everybody in this team when that series ended we were ok with ourselves, we knew that we did everything in our power to advance to the final four. In the 5th game Diamantidis had 3 fouls since the first quarter, but nevertheless we put on the court a lot of energy. It was probably our best half since I came to the team. Sports is full of happy moments, disappointments, victories, losses... These contradictions exist. The issue is that you have to be sure that you gave your best when leaving the court..."
Fotsis: "We want to show everybody that we are strong"
Antonis Fotsis stated about the game against FC Barcelona: "We are facing FC Barcelona and they have a really good team. They have proven that on the court by being undefeated so far in Top16. We play at home and we want to show that we are strong. It will be a tough test for us and we have to play our kind of basketball determined in order to have our share of success tomorrow. It's important to get the positive results when playing at home. This will give us the necessary boost to claim victories away from home too. There are a lot of games ahead of us, but winning tomorrow can be proven to be really important for us and the standings in the group".
Fotsis spoke about the rhythm of the game and defense: "Rhythm always has a big part to play. Barcelona tries to run and we must not let them play in their rhythm. We have to force our game in our court. Defense will be the base of everything once again. It's our starting point"
Being the captain of the Greek National Men team, Antonis Fotsis spoke about the wild card for the 2014 World Cup: "The National team must be present in big competitions. People in charge make a great effort in order to get that wild card. In two days we'll find out FIBA's verdict. What we all wish is the National Team to be present for everybody to admire it".
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