All for all with Tofas Bursa for the “16” of PAOK

THE PAOK tied the series at 1-1 Tofa Bursa with 88-87 in Turkey after the “heavy” 63-95 of the first match in “Palataki” for the play-ins of the BCL and with a victory at 19:30 at “PAOK SPORTS ARENA” advances to the “16” of the competition, following AEK, Promethea and Peristeri bwin.

“The importance of this match does not allow us to think about what happened on Saturday in Peristeri”initially commented Fotis Takianos and added that: “It is a game of our path, the one we have created, it is not something special. From the first moment, we started in a very difficult group, game by game we succeeded and opened a path. We got to lose the home advantage and bring it back again, against a very good team, with a very “deep” roster and with a very big budget.

This process and the fact that we are here should make the PAOK organization proud. The wins against such strong opponents gave us confidence. We believe in our team. With the help and encouragement of the people, I think we will cover the gaps regarding the injuries and absences that with such teams play their part”.

Regarding the pressure that may exist in his team, the coach of the “two-headed” pointed out that: “The pressure of winning is there. What we have to do is turn into an advantage what the world will create inside the stadium. We talked to the guys, we said we have to be focused on the four lines of the field, take all the energy in the world and turn it into something positive.

The appearance we made in Bursa plays a very important role, because it was a dedication of the soul. We must look the same in the deposition of the soul and put our heart into the parquet.

When asked about the additional motivation that the team may have either from the victory in Turkey, or from the bruised ego after the defeat in Peristeri, he commented that: “There may be a temporal connection to the games, but this is another game in another competition. And, as in the big victories we had, we didn’t feel like we did anything extraordinary to celebrate, the same is true for the “heavy” defeats.

Sports and basketball have these. Our team, unfortunately, is plagued in many periods by injuries that do not let us find the rhythm we want. But at this moment, bringing the advantage back to our field, we want to experience the game and bring joy to our world.”