Ataman: “We didn’t play the best basketball, but the team showed character”

Ergin Ataman spoke in the press conference room in Alexandria about the minimal preparation time that Panathinaikos had after the game against Alba and before the game against Aris. The Turkish coach continued to emphasize the Greens’ good defensive function.

“We arrived in Thessaloniki yesterday (11/11) and the truth is that we didn’t have time to make any special preparations. We came from a game in Berlin where we were excellent in attack, but when we came here we knew we had to play against a team that played aggressively and had a hot atmosphere, so it wasn’t going to be easy.

We started the game well, but Aris caught up with us. I think we played smart offensively in the third period. We found a way to attack the Martian battle zone, and so we took the lead. We maintained this in the last period as well. We didn’t play great basketball, but the team showed character after the long journey from Berlin. We didn’t shoot much, but we were successful on defense and held Aris to 65 points. It’s an important win for the team.

Aris got additional points from Katsivelis’ low post play. Sometimes they played in a large formation, sometimes with three guards. We have not changed our logic from the Three Guardians of Mars plan. There were phases where we used Grigonis in the “4” position to score a long shot, but also to break through the Aris defense. We also found points in the low post, either with Lesor or with Dino,” he said in detail.