Sphairopoulos: “We could very well win – I’m optimistic”

THE Red Star touched the triumph on his debut Yannis Sfeiropoulou in the Euroleague, but Partizan came back from -11 (64-75) in the last five minutes and prevailed 88-86. However, the Greek technician is optimistic about the future.

“I congratulate my players, because with the way we played we could well have won. It was important that we put on such a good face after only three training sessions together. We were very good for most of the match. It is not easy for the players to get used to it, we are in a transition period and we played a derby. After the bad start, we had more concentration, controlled the game and in the second and third quarters we were very good in defense and attack. In the last period we lost our concentration, gave easy points to Partizan and made mistakes, as a result we conceded 35 points, which is too many. But there are also positives. We are in the process of changing our philosophy on the floor. Despite the disappointment of the loss, there are positives to be optimistic about. I am optimistic. We keep working hard, we have one more derby ahead of us. We will talk about our mistakes and come for another big game. Congratulations to Partizan, but also to my players. It turned out that Serbia has two great teams that play great basketball“, he emphasized.

“The atmosphere was amazing, I personally like to play in such an atmosphere. In these derbies, in Greece, Serbia and Israel, there is a fanatical atmosphere. It’s the fans’ right, but we don’t want the professionals to suffer violence. Nothing happened, I’m talking in general. Violence should stay out of sports, after all basketball is a game,” he added of the explosive atmosphere in the packed Stark Arena.

The two teams will meet again on Monday, but this time for the Adriatic League, again with Zeljko Obradovic’s side typically playing host.