Defense, Diamantidis’ injury, but also Roko Leni Ukic were topics Argyris Pedoulakis made reference to amongst others at the Press Conference after the game versus Unicaja Malaga.
Panathinaikos Head Coach stressed about the encounter:“It was a very tough clash for both teams. Malaga pressured us a great deal in velocity during the first half; it got 12 points off secondary fastbreaks. Three of us battled for the offensive rebound and we had bad balance, since our opponent plays continuously with three guards. It picked up 8 offensive rebounds during the first half and that is how it managed to balance things out on court while we on the other hand had an issue when facing pick and roll plays. The guys should have taken part in the rotation in order for everyone to get breathers. We tightened our defense and through this we can drive solutions. It was an important victory for the team since it is not yet ready; there are players who have been sidelined for quite some time and all that counts now is winning. Very important for us is Diamantidis’ injury, player who we really needed at this point praise to his experience. All is well and we proceed”.
When asked about Dimitris Diamantidis and the fans’ and his reaction from the end of the bench, he stated: “We have congratulated our fans. When Dimitris got injured the game had quite some time to be played out yet and enthusiasm had to be introduced into the game. I believe that the guys who were called upon to fill the gap left by Diamantidis lived up to expectations and the fans helped the team out with their own enthusiasm so as for us to reach a positive result”.
Pedoulakis was also asked about Ukic: “He is a player used to a different game. He is inputting a huge effort. Today he failed to help his self out, because we called a time-out, gave solutions, he had passes through the plays, put he failed to spot them. He plays impulsively on most occasions. This might happen, but not after time-outs. He did a heck of a job in backcourt but not in creation. He got carried away and failed to get the ball where it should. What we must all do is help him and I believe that he will live up to expectations and be ok”.
When questioned about what he savors from today’s win and the ups and downs in the team’s performance but also in the score, he answered: “Unicaja Malaga is a swift team and our players needed to get breathers especially in the defensive part such as Diamantidis for example of even Sofoklis and Kapono; players who are unable to follow Malaga’s velocity for a long period of time. Set game was our kind of game, when the pace got faster the game’s image was better over in Malaga’s court. Certain things worked out for us and all begun from defense, when it improved as we had taller guards to guard shots”.
Unicaja Malaga Head Coach, Jasmin Repesa, stated: “Congratulations to Panathinaikos for winning. We tried through 40 minutes to do the best we could. Unfortunately during the last 10 minutes we failed to maintain the lead we had got to. We lost our focus, took two time-outs in order to regain our concentration. We were very close once more, just like in Kaunas, but unfortunately we lost. We must be more positive and see what is to happen next in the games to come. For us, priority at the moment is Sunday’s ACB game, were we are to face Seville at home”.
