Panathinaikos edged Patras and at the same time got to see Ramel Curry leave the court behind nothing but positive impressions in his premiere with the Greens. Argyris Pedoulakis stated however, that the American guard’s performance came as no surprise.
“The most important thing out of today’s encounter was the atmosphere in the court”, the Panathinaikos head coach stressed only to add: “We would like to thank our fans who are always by our side and of course to thank the Patras fans that aided towards this great atmosphere to be created. Basketball is a show and that is how it should be handled. Congratulations to everyone! As far as the game, it was a clash without pressure, we tried out things and so did Apollon with players and tests. In the first half we tried to be good defensively and avoid turnovers. Our goal is to get ready for the ensuing season and not to be set off our pace. Apollon’s stride was successful, when you are a Greek League team, it is important to be exactly that, a team; to be able to surpass adversities, tough moments supporting one another, administration, technical staff and players. Apollon is bursting with health. Congratulations to everyone!”
Concerning Curry he stated: “The goal was to get him incorporated in the team. We know him as a player; he has experience while his talent is well known”.
Pedoulakis was questioned about the Euroleague final. “The positive thing is that Greek basketball did well for yet another season, despite the issues it is facing out of bounds and it manages to be competitive. Predictions can’t be made. Especially all who have trained at championship level can understand that many factors can be of importance to judge the winner. If we see what happened in last season’s final, then it is plain for one to comprehend that no forecast is possible”.
The Apollon Patras head coach, Nikos Vetoulas stated: “Congratulations to coach for the Panathinaikos team’s stride. It was a competitive assembly in both Europe and Greece. We know that today would be a basketball celebration and what we aspired towards was to be competitive. Certain things we had said we achieved, others we didn’t. I would like to congratulate everyone. Certain things worked in defense, certain traps we had spoke of in order to draw fouls and overall we did well. We are now on preparing for the last game of the regular season versus Olympiacos and we will continue behind the same mind set”.
Jonas Maciulis stated: “It was a tough matchup. Apollon gave a good battle. Certain choices for us were good in defense and offense, certain others were not. I am pleased that we prevailed and I wish all the best to Apollon next”.
Vlado Petrovic stressed: “As Jonas stated, we gave a battle across from Panathinaikos. They are adversaries you simply can’t beat. We had aspired to be competitive, we all played and the guys who don’t normally compete and we presented a good image. We have achieved our goals and we look ahead from now on. There are no other goals this season, we simple hope to proceed in the same manner through the remaining encounters and to be competitive”.
Petrovic was asked about the Panathinaikos fans: “Apollon’s and Patras’ fans are basketball connoisseurs. This season as also last season the fans aided and applauded the opponent team; in any event Panathinaikos is a great team”
He seems to be pleased, if he wasn’t he would not do it, not only today but all season long that a good job is being done. Concerning his staying on with Apollon, he stated: “We know what we want but we will start conversations once the championship is over”.
