Kastritis: “It seemed that we were tired and we were justly defeated”

THE Mars fought to the end, but o Panathinaikos AKTOR he was serious and dominant, winning 76-65 in the semi-final of the OPAP Cup.

In his statements after the end of the match, the coach of the “yellows”, Yannis Kastritissaid that his players never gave up on the match, but it appeared that they were tired and rightly beaten.

“It became a tough and strong game, at least that’s what we tried to be. I don’t know if we were at the energy levels we’re used to, but that’s only normal with the excesses the kids have gone through. But we wanted to give all our strength. We didn’t start well, Panathinaikos took advantage of all our mistakes and took a lead. At no point did we give up, the kids showed how much they wanted it, but Panathinaikos was better. It looked like we were tired and justly defeated. We should be happy and proud of our effort in reaching the semi-finals. A small circle closes and this interruption comes as a balm, to freshen up for the next obligations, in the play-in of the championship and in the championship. Congratulations to our children, good luck to our internationals and we want to continue working to bring joy to our world“, he initially said and continued:

On the profit of Ares from the knockout games in view Prometheus said: “For us, there are no knockouts, in the sense that for us every game is a knockout and that’s how we approach it, from the beginning of the season. We treat every game as if it is the last game. Every possession is required. We have played many knockout games, such as against Buduchnost, Ulm, Trento, PAOK… Nothing changes for us, just the labels give stress and pressure. When you put pressure on yourself by yourself, no label can put more pressure on you».

On the way Ares tried to restrain Nan: “I won’t go into a press conference on how you can limit Nan. It would be a huge mistake to focus only on Nan, we tried to follow our tactics, with several defensive changes, not only on Nan. We didn’t have that kind of focus. Panathinaikos, Olympiacos and teams like that have kids who are… an orchestra and on their good day no defense can stop them».

From the players’ side, Dimitris Katsivelis said: “Congratulations to Panathinaikos. It was a very tough match. Panathinaikos entered the game very strongly. We tried to follow the plan we have all year, but offensively we were not that good, while Panathinaikos found solutions and reached the victory. When you have the opportunity to play in a game with the prize of qualifying for the final, even though you are not the favorite, you play to win. Panathinaikos did a very good job in defense, we were not so accurate and that cost us the victory. We have worked all year to get the team to this position. We want to take advantage of the break we have and be ready for the rest of the season».