Priftis: “We have to overcome ourselves”

Panathinaikos meets Real Madrid for the EuroLeague in OAKA (31/3, 21:00, Novasports Prime and LIVE by Sportish) and Dimitris Priftis and Ioannis Papapetrou mentioned the difficulty of this game and the quality that Real has.

The Greens coach stressed that the side would have to push themselves if they wanted to get anything out of the game and also referred to the squad that Panathinaikos will line up with.

“We tried yesterday, but it wasn’t enough. We had to try harder. The 95p. that we accepted is too much, which shows that we didn’t try as much as we should. I need more. The next game is with a very difficult opponent. We have to focus in just one day, play smart and look competitive against a very good team with very good players and a great squad.

Real have good and experienced players. We have to overcome ourselves. Being very focused and having a lot of energy. It’s not easy, we have failures and fatigue from the previous game. But there is no other way.

Real will probably give us extra motivation. It’s a great club. We want to do our best in every game. Sometimes, like yesterday, we weren’t enough. Of course we will be like yesterday. There will also be Nikos Hugaz who couldn’t play yesterday.”

For his part, Panathinaikos captain Ioannis Papapetrou commented: “I think the reason why we lost to Maccabi remains to be seen and analyzed in basketball and with a logical explanation. You have a complaint if you are unlucky and lose in one shot. We played at home, conceded 95 points and clearly lost, so nothing to complain about. There are a lot of excuses, we went down when we were nine, some players were very busy, but it’s about looking at basketball, what we could do better in defense, how many cheap hoops we could have saved. Offensively we were pretty good in many parts of the game, but defensively we conceded 95 points at home, that’s too much and we should definitely do something about it.

Obviously, Real is a team that plays great basketball. It’s very important for us to play better defensively because Real have a lot of quality. It’s the only way to approach the game like that because it’s a team with a lot of talent and if the game goes out it will be difficult to manage.

All these games motivate. We’re in a position that doesn’t allow us to get anything in the Euroleague at the moment, but games at this level in and of themselves motivate us all.

I would definitely like to see more people on the pitch but I recognize that the seasons are different and difficult in many ways. The team hasn’t brought the desired results but I hope people will be there when they should be because we don’t forget that we still have an active goal, the championship, and we all believe we can can hunt and give 100% for achievement. All together, players, coaches, administration, people and those who love Panathinaikos can be one for this goal.

Above all, I wish health for the whole world and peace in the strange times we live in. From there, in basketball, I hope that the season ends with a title because it’s worth it for the team and all the people who are here working hard, but also for the world of Panathinaikos. May we prosper.”