Ataman: “You’ll understand how I feel if you put yourself in my shoes”

Obviously disappointed with the defeat of Panathinaikos by Olympiakosat the premiere of this year’s Euroleague, was the Ergin Ataman.

The coach of the “clover” emphasized that his team did not follow its plan in the fourth quarter, while he also referred to his key mistake Matias Lessor, just before the end of regular time. However, the experienced coach kept the good basketball played by the “greens” for three quarters.

“If you’re asking me how I feel… You’ll understand if you put yourself in my shoes. We lost the first home game in the Euroleague. The first derby of the season. And even in overtime. Certainly this caused an extra tiredness. If I talk about the positives, I would say that the new team showed its ability to play very good basketball. We played excellent basketball for three quarters against one of the best and most experienced teams in the Euroleague.

In the fourth quarter we stopped playing according to our plan, we made a lot of mistakes. We did not respond to their aggression. They punished us with the three points, we could have ended the match earlier, surely Olympiacos is fresher and more experienced. We made a ridiculous mistake (including Lesor), but that’s basketball. There is pressure. My players played for the first time in this atmosphere. There was nervousness at the end“, the Turkish coach initially stated at the press conference.

For Kostas Sloukas: “We saw it in the Super Cup, we expect more aggression from Olympiakos against Slukas. He is our key player in attack. He distributed the ball but we didn’t have the chance to finish the phases. We lost balls. He wanted the game over. Maybe he’s playing with strong emotions, the only thing that’s certain is that he wanted to win, he’s playing for the win, he got tired in the last minutes.”

On the psychological factor in the derby and Matias Lessor’s mistake: “These things happen in basketball, they can happen to any player, in any game. The players gave me energy and tried hard.”

On Kyle Guy’s limited time: “I didn’t use him much. In place of Guy we have three experienced players, Vildosa, Sluka and Grant. He did not show a good image defensively against Canaan in the Super Cup. That’s why he didn’t play much tonight.”