Priftis: “We are not indifferent in the EuroLeague”

Panathinaikos OPAP will play their third home game in a row for the EuroLeague on the night of Friday, March 4th at 21:00. After the bad performance and the defeat against Zalgiris, Dimitris Priftis’ team is trying to recover and get the positive result, which requires the highest mental readiness, as he himself said on the eve of the match with Armani Milano.

Details of Dimitris Priftis’ statements:

“Sure, all games in the EuroLeague are very difficult. It’s quite difficult because Armani plays very hard, plays with contacts and has the bodies to support that. That’s a point where we have to be prepared, which we didn’t do in the previous game, especially in the first ten minutes and we paid for it“.

When asked if this was a matter of common sense, Dimitris Priftis replied: “You need spiritual preparation to be ready to use your body and grow strong through the phases. Not only defensively, but also offensively, because if the other person plays very hard, you can make wrong decisions, increase the pace of the game, and accept easy points in surprise. These are just some of the purposeful shareware that you can use“.

Regarding the players available, he noted the following: “We’ll see today. It will be the first day Bohoridis and White will train with the team. Papapetrou and Jovic are definitely out“.

As to whether Ioannis Papapetrou will be ready next week, he said: “Ready is relevant. Getting on the field and training looks set to start next week. But that takes time for him and us“.

Asked about the war in Ukraine, he said: “Obviously a part of ourselves is there. Obviously we’re awaiting developments to see how well we can predict what’s going to happen. Obviously there is an uncertainty, but we need to isolate all of these thoughts and be more focused. There is no doubt that we experience special days“.

As for feeling happier now that he’s in Athens and not Kazan, he stressed: “At the moment it’s better that I’m in Greece and not there. I’ve been saying this since the beginning of the year, it’s definitely better to be in my own country. These circumstances have brought these thoughts back to my mind more vividly“.

Commenting on finding motivation in EuroLeague games for his team, he found it difficult: “I think we showed that we play motivated in these games. We don’t come down indifferent. We care and we’ve shown in recent games that we strive to win, regardless of whether we manage to do so very often. There is no indifference, there are motivations to play hard“.

When finally asked to comment on the opportunities being pursued by young athletes like Lefteris Mantzoukas and Nikos Hougaz, he stated: “We try to give them a step. We have the will to put the new children this year. We’ve done it several times. They work hard for it and sometimes they respond and some don’t. And this is a piece that takes time“.

Meikon: “Trust the plan”

For his part, Daryl Macon said: “Our plan is to play hard, play hard, play together. We know that our performance has many ups and downs. What we have to do is keep fighting, trust each other, trust our coaches, trust the plan. Sometimes the result may not come, but the point is to have done everything in your power to achieve it.“.

When asked if it was all in the head, he replied: “Like I said, we just have to stick together and keep playing hard. That’s the most important. If you try, if you play hard and know that you did everything to win, the result is not the most important thing. Often it’s not you”.

Commenting on what the Greens need to do to face tomorrow’s opponents, he said: “It’s going to be a very difficult game. What should interest our team. be ourselves Watching each game individually and not having ups and downs“.

He concluded by referring to Panathinaikos OPAP’s goals in the Greek championship: “In the Greek championship we have to continue what we are doing. I don’t know how many wins in a row we have after our loss at the premiere. We want to continue on this path to get the home advantage. That’s our main goal in the championship“.