PanathinaikosHead Coach, Argyris Pedoulakis, speaking at the Press Conference, made reference to the absence of the team’s two main creators, offering kudos to all who competed but also to the fans for their presence.
“It was a great victory, under the circumstances which it was marked. We faced issues due to injuries in creation. It is a different deal when you are missing executors than when you are missing creators. We were forced to compete with a single guard during the second half, we did not function well; we failed to break opposing defense coils; Zlagiris red into this fact and performed behind more pressure. The guys outdid themselves; we kept the score low and in the end managed to prevail. Important element in the team’s victory was the presence and the warmth coming from the crowd. When the game closed and the team seemed to second guess more than it should, there immense help came from the fans”.
When asked about Dimitris Diamantidis, who felt discomfort again and did not compete in the second half, he stressed: “He will have a second MRI done and we will have a clearer image of what exactly is going on tomorrow”.
As far as what he savors from this win, he stated: “We savor certain guys stepping up. They understand Dimitris’ activity in every aspect of the game, the team has got used to competing with him, but today they stepped up at both ends of the court; players such as Lasme, Bramos or Tsartsaris in defense, while at dire moments we got creation from Kapono, who calmed both game and team down in offense”.
About Panathinaikos having won teams with greater budgets such as Real Madrid, Fenerbahce Ulker and Zalgiris Kaunas, Pedoulakis noted: “Panathinaikos has the technical know-how. This season it started almost from zero, with the exceptions of Diamantidis and Tsartsaris. It was a tough project but as I have stated before Greek Basketball has the technical know-how, it is worthy of respect. There might not be the quality of the past in offense but in the battlefield we are always there: Rebounds, assists, steals what we can do, we do every night. It is a team which has been faced with many critical moments and the boys have always lived up to the assignment, hence they deserve our respect”.
The Head Coach of Zalgiris Kaunas, Joan Plaza, stressed: “The first thing I told my players was that I am pleased we managed to get back in the game. On the other hand when we are playing against such teams we just can’t miss these shots, it is not possible that we receive the shots we received, to not offer help or to lose rebounds. We woke up just in time, worked better in defense and offense during second half and had two chances to win. We had the chance but we were not lucky enough. When you make such a clash a one-point- game it is like flipping a coin. I have no idea what is going to happen. We must learn from such situations, play for all 40 minutes and not for only 20 and that it is. We are coming from a tough group and we know that we must screen better, try harder…I am pleased only in my players’ effort down to the wire”.
