The last home game in Panathinaikos Euroleague regular season will be held tomorrow at the OAKA indoor arena. The Greens will be hosting Fenerbahce/Ulker (December 7, 22.00, ET1) and Argyris Pedoulakis spoke about the encounter but also Mike Batiste’s return as an opponent.
“We have a game versus Fenerbahce/Ulker ahead of us, game to have certain special features due to Mike Batiste’s presence. Our opponent we shall be facing tomorrow has switched its philosophy in schemes especially after its away game across from Cantu, something that aided it in becoming more competitive further down the road. Versus Khimki or Real Madrid it was alive in the game for 30 minutes but lost its opponent in the final quarter. It performers behind more appropriate distances, has lightened its lay-out sending Mike into Center position. It has made certain decisions and this has helped. Fenerbahce/Ulker needs the win hence it will present itself behind greater concentration and motivation. On the other hand we hope to keep running our winning streak, get the guys improved, become better and better, play more correctly and keep up the competitive rhythm. Mike’s presence makes the game special, he is a guy who has offered so much and it is mandatory that he be honored. On the other hand we must not allow the festive atmosphere that will exist, lead us to lose our concentration. It is something we must look out for. Wefocus on the game alone. We must also have a motive, even though we have already secured our qualification. This is the key for us. Sofo will be returning, getting back into action after quite a large competitive inertia and we must establish the state he will be in. Also, Maciulis was not able to finish practice last night and we will see in what shape he will be in tomorrow, seeing that tonight’s practice won’t be so intense”.
When asked about how much Schortsanitis’ absence affected Panathinaikos’ game and how much his return might affect it now Pedoulakis stated: “Schortsanitis is a part of the team and he helped it out a great deal in the beginning when issues of extreme heterogeneity existed. I think that we really missed him during the previous games. For example when we mounted the advantages, at that point were the game should have become calmer, the ups and downs should have stopped and the point spreads should not have been lost. In the game versus Olimpija we really missed him. He has specific technical elements. There were games in which he competed and we seemed static but this happened mainly because our perimeter failed to punish the opposing defense. All athletes have advantages and disadvantages no matter how great they are. Especially when posting up into the paint he is a great help, while he can easily rally up many bodies on him thus freeing his teammates from their defenders. We miss him as a quantity not only as a quality, since we come up short in solutions. On the other hand you must bear in mind that when issues do exist a team can coil more and certain players might undertake further assignments, as it happen in Cantu when we picked up all the rebounds”.
About if certain calculations have been made concerning the crossovers in the next phase, Pedoulakis made it clear that: “No! We have not proceeded to such calculations. We are a team which is forming now. We lack the quality and the experience older team enjoyed. We do not wish to step into such procedures. Across from us we have a team which aspires to win. But what we want is to build character and mentality. Panathinaikos wants to win all games given, to be competitive in every single game and that is something in everybody’s mind”.
Numbers and faces
Common faces of the encounter are three and belong to both teams. Mike Batiste and Romain Sato have competed in Panathinaikos while on the contrary Roko Leni Ukic has worn the Fenerbahce/Ulker jersey.
Jonas Maciulis recorded his only double-double this season in Euroleague when facing Fenerbahce/Ulker in the first round’s game (14p, 10rbs).
Kostas Tsartsaris needs to drain 5 good triples in order to reach 100 in his Euroleague career. The most important thing is that he will be alone in third place in the all time Euroleague game’s played list, leaving Jaka Lakovic in fourth place behind him. Up to tip-off they are roomies in third place behind 218 participations.
Stephane Lasme is top Euroleague stopper with a 2.43 average through 8 games.
Panathinaikos leads Euroleague in rebounds this season with 37.3 per game but is also first in turnovers committing average 17.3
History
Panathinaikos – Ulker (Turkey) 9-4
2012-13 Euroleague 64-73*
2011-12 Euroleague 77-56* 72-62
2007-08 Euroleague 83-64* 88-68
2006-07 Euroleague 82-66* 85-69
2004-05 Euroleague 64-66* 79-72
2002-03 Euroleague 78-74 73-92*
2000-01 Euroleague 79-87* 84-77
Fenerbahce/Ulker Euroelague accomplishments for the current season
Fenerbahce/Ulker-Khimki 92-80
Union Olimpija-Fenerbahce/Ulker 75-81
Fenerbahce/Ulker -Real Madrid 75-83
Fenerbahce/Ulker -Panathinaikos 73-64
Mapooro Cantu- Fenerbahce/Ulker 82-58
Khimki- Fenerbahce/Ulker 71-70
Fenerbahce/Ulker –Union Olimpija 85-68
Real Madrid- Fenerbahce/Ulker 77-61
Khimki-Panathinaikos
Euroleague regular season curtains will drop for Panathinaikos in Russia Panathinaikos to be facing Khimki. The game will be committed on the 13th of December at 19.00, television coverage from ERT.
