Ataman: “The game against Real is not a must-win – Let’s start playing like in OAKA and away from home”

After the break for the Cup and National teamEuroleague action returns for Panathinaikos AKTOR with a very demanding game in Madrid, against Real (29/02, 21:45).

In view of this confrontation, Mr Ergin Ataman he spoke about the reasons why he does not consider it the most difficult in the competition, while he referred to the special condition of the break for the national teams, but also to his injury Costa Antetokounmpo.

In detail what he said:

On what to expect against the champions Real: “Anyway, we are in the last 8 games of the Euroleague so every match is difficult. For me, it is not the most demanding match, because it is not a must-win even though we will fight for the victory. We will try to play like in the first half of the match at OAKA, as in the second half they found easy baskets and won. It’s not easy obviously, but if we want to fight for the big goals, we have to fight hard and with confidence and play our game.”

For the break for the National teams: “We had 8 players in the windows and we all met together yesterday in Madrid. It’s hard for everyone. And Real had 8 players in the qualifiers. But I think that in this Euroleague season preparing the team is not that important. The players know what they have to do. The issue is the form the players are in. Yesterday we did a tactical training. You can’t have a lot of preparation in the Euroleague. Every two days you have a game. Now we have had the break for 10 days, but I hope we will continue. We didn’t play good basketball in the Cup and that’s something important for us. We have to start playing good basketball, like we do in OAKA, where we play great defense and have more confidence. But outside we don’t have that, with the exception of some matches”.

On the status of Costa Antetokounmpo: “Kostas, after the examination by the doctors, we saw that it is not a simple injury and we will see about it. He won’t even play in Sunday’s game against Kolossos in the Greek league. And then we’ll see his condition. It’s not something simple, but I hope it’s not something that will send him to surgery.”

For the key points of the match against Real: “We had a problem against Olympiakos with Fal. We made bad decisions on defense inside the basket. And tomorrow we will face Tavares, in the same defense. We have to play smart and attack the basket when Tavares is missing, but we also have to watch out for Campazo and Musa. Let’s not go back to Real finding points by surprise. At 5 against 5, I’m sure we won’t have a problem.”