Bonga on sportfm.gr: “Panathinaikos has a lot of talent – it will be interesting to see how his season will go”

In the second game of “Pavlos Giannakopoulos”, o Panathinaikos defeated with difficulty 80-73 Bayern Munichensuring presence in the “final” against Effects.

Despite the explosive atmosphere in OAKA and the enthusiasm of the home team, the Bavarians were anything but… chewed, as they were terribly competitive and lost the match in the details, proving that they too now have excellent material.

One of her top players Bayern in the match was Isaac Bonga. The German forward, now a World Champion, tallied 12 points and 4 rebounds on 2/2 three-pointers, causing many problems for the “greens” both offensively and defensively.

After the match, the former NBAer spoke to sport-fm.gr and Alexandros Tsirigotis for the details that judged the friendly and the similarities between the two teams, while he also gave his prediction for Bayern’s course in the season that is starting.

In detail what he said to Alexandros Tsirigotis:

Bayern suffered defeat in the final minutes. What was it that made the difference?

“Basketball is a sport of duration, you have to play well in all 40 minutes. We started very badly, but then we had many positive periods in our game. I want to give credit to Nelson Weideman, who came off the bench and played tremendous defense. Beyond that, basketball is a game of streaks. Panathinaikos ran one like that at the end, we couldn’t respond and we lost the match.”

Panathinaikos is in a phase of radical reconstruction with many new additions. How did you like tonight?

“Like you said, it’s a team with a lot of young guys, a lot of talent. It has several experienced players who have played in the Euroleague, but also some who are rookies in it. Panathinaikos reminds me of us, in the sense that it is a new group where you can understand that some things are working well, but there are others that need to be improved and worked on. It will be very interesting to see how his season ends.”

Bayern have never managed to become one of the title contenders in the Euroleague. Do you think that might change this year?

“We certainly have our chances. We have many young players with talent, but also “old” players who have been here for a long time. We also have a new coach, who knows this level better than anyone. It will be very interesting to see how we go this year, but I am optimistic that we will make noise in the Euroleague in the new season.”