Kapono, the Gist affair and of course the clash versus Panionios were the three topics on which the Press Conference was based, after the end of the encounter.
Panathinaikos Head Coach, Argyris Pedoulakis, stressed: “During the first half we were better focused. Panionios had the positive that it stood to lose nothing in such a game, so automatically it became more dangerous. During the first half our defense functioned quite pleasingly and maybe we might have thought that the clash was a done deal. We failed to play good basketball at a specific point next; we started though show time playing. We attempted many way too many shots, without essentially enforcing pressure on Panionios. We cleaned up our act, got to solutions closer to the basket and that is how the game ended. We have one more competitive obligation on Saturday, with the Greek Cup semifinal clash and then we shall begin preparing for Euroleague. I wish all the best next to Panionios and Giannis Sferopoulos, because his is putting in quite an effort with many young guys”.
As far as Jason Kapono’s performance, his stated: “He has performed some essential practices with us. He too needs time in order to learn the plays. He is talented, has personality and all that is needed is for him to be incorporated into the team and establish a competitive pace. He needs game time and that’s why he participated today, in order for him to be more prepared in the progress of the season”.
Concerning Gist and the possibility of him arriving to Panathinaikos, Pedoulakis said only: “I have stated it in the past, that especially after an encounter I will not speak of a player who has not competed out of respect for those who did”.
Panionios Head Coach, Giannis Sferopoulos stated: “It was a tough game for us, across from a team which has paced itself and is playing much better than it did in the beginning. Panathinaikos is becoming better and we can already see this. We knew we had our work cut out for us during the first half; we were too slow, we lacked the determination such a game called for and we certainly failed to live up to its demands. I have told my players that I aspire for us to fight at every clash. In any event during the second half we presents a better image of the team, fought, tried harder in defense, received less points and made a good effort returning to the game during the last few minutes, picking up our trail to a one digit number. Panathinaikos without a doubt has the quality and the experience and managed to prevail through all fairness at the point the game had reached. I believe that the numbers give this game’s actual image. We hope through hard work to improve in many departments. We have great margins of improvement. From the moment we came to the team we had seven games, of which five road encounters. We managed to make it through a tough schedule. With the recess, we will get the chance to rest but also work on many areas of the game in defense and offense. Congratulations to coach and Panathinaikos for qualifying onto the Top16 and good luck in Europe. I wish to all happy holidays with health”.
Stephane Lasme stressed: “We played well. It was good for both teams. Our team played aggressively, especially in defense. We set the tone early in the encounter but Panionios proved to be a good team and it has our respect. It has many good players. We hope to take advantage of these games in order to reach our goals”.
When asked about Jason Kapono, he stated: “He is a great shooter. He really helped us out to open our game in the court in offense and presented us with an important weapon. I am really looking forward to playing with him”.
Giannis Athineou stated: “Congratulations to Panathinaikos for winning. Unfortunately we today, failed to deal with the game as we should have. As coach stated, we failed to fight at it throughout the entire encounter, as we should have. We knew that we were to face a strong and good team such as Panathinaikos is and sadly enough we failed to face the game with the severity it called for. The only thing that remains for us to do is to keep up the hard work and present ourselves better and more competitive, championship recommencing. I wish everyone happy holidays and good luck to Panathinaikos in Europe”.
