Pitino: “We are fighting for the playoff spot”

The head coach of Panathinaikos OPAP, Rick Pitino stated after the end of the game against Zenit St Petersburg: "The last two games we had the best first quarters of the season. After an average start, it was a brilliant first quarter tonight, but we are an offensive basketball team trying to get better defensively and if we turn the ball over we are just a mediocre team. 20 turnovers is way too many for a team like us. We can't do that without beating ourselves, so we'll work on that. But it's a good victory. We are fighting for the playoff spot and it's going to take probably 18 wins. If you break down the Euroleague schedule, we got by far not only more road games but we've got to play six of the best teams, so every win is crucial for us to get a playoff spot. Not having Papapetrou hurt us tonight but now our energy levels are good. Still, you cannot play this game turning the ball over because it's a double hurt; you turn the ball over and that gives them so many easy points. We work on that to get better and we have been good most of the season with that, but we were awful the last two games."