Panathinaikos OPAP is preparing for one of the most difficult season games in the EuroLeague with Roter Stern (February 25, 9 p.m., Novasports Prime, Match Center at Sportish). Most of the difficulties relate to the many absences faced by Dimitris Priftis, who cannot count on three of his key players.

That’s thanks to Ioannis Papapetrou and Stefan Jovic, who are absent due to medical reasons, but also to George Papagiannis, who will reinforce the men’s national team for back-to-back matches against Turkey in Ano Liosia and Istanbul.

Details of Dimitris Priftis’ statements:

What a coach should do after losing a title: “The coach has to get closer to his players, look to the next day and manage them separately. He needs to keep working with the players. Having ongoing commitments doesn’t make you think too much, it’s a positive part, on the other hand we have some issues to deal with and the order of the games doesn’t help us“.

When asked about the absences in view of tomorrow’s game, he replied: “Apart from Papapetrou and Jovic, the three days after the final weren’t easy, we’re training with 8 people, White missed training yesterday, we’ll see if he’s in today, well I don’t know how we’ll show up tomorrow“.

Commenting on Panathinaikos OPAP’s overall progress in the EuroLeague, he said: “We’ve had some good games, we’ve got flashes that we need to show more often. But some things won’t let us. The absences, together with Papagiannis, who will be with the national team, limit us but we will ‘fight’ as much as possible.“.

Regarding the game with the Serbian team, he said: “I expect a tough game, it will be a contact game with great intensity, with strong defense, we have to avoid mistakes, not give easy baskets, go to a set game, control the rhythm, avoid mistakes that give the opponent easy baskets and possession fight“.

Finally, regarding the national team and the fact that Panathinaikos OPAP will be represented by George Papagiannis, he remarked: “The situation that currently prevails in the national team is very promising, it seems that everyone is helpful in the effort that is being made, we at Panathinaikos are proving it, with the presence of Papagiannis on the day of the game, even if we are don’t have big ambitions in the EuroLeague or aren’t interested in scoring and especially with the situation we’re experiencing after the final, it’s a very difficult decision for George for the club to take part.

I think we prove, and that’s how it is, that the national team is above all, Greek basketball is united, it’s wider, it can’t have colors, it can’t have interests, it has to be a team of all us and us have to prove it with our actions“.

Evans: “We do not represent the position in the ranking”

Jeremy Evans, for his part, was asked about the Greek Cup loss and replied: “We really wanted to win the cup, but we didn’t succeed. We made some mistakes that we paid dearly for and that we shouldn’t repeat. We fought hard in the final, but they also wanted it very much and they managed it in detail“.

Commenting on Panathinaikos OPAP’s course in the EuroLeague, he said: “I don’t think the position we’re taking represents us. We will play all games until the end of the regular season to improve our position. We will not give up. We have to show character. We want to keep fighting and get as many victories as possible“.

He commented on whether he and his teammates see tomorrow’s game as an opportunity to avenge their heavy defeat in the first round game: “We have this game in mind. What happened in Belgrade was a shame for us. We want to take advantage of our headquarters and give everything we have to win with the people at our side“.

When asked about the “weapons” of the Serbian team, he replied that the “key” of the game replied: “We don’t think so much about the opponent as we do about ourselves. We want to improve in all areas, play good defense and get the win. I think the key is to play hard, to fight at every stage, something we didn’t do in Belgrade“.

He concluded by emphasizing the importance of returning to the stadium: “It’s always important to have the fans by our side. We know that he is always by our side and we want to give that back to them“.