Koniaris: “We will do everything to continue our journey to the BCL, many congratulations to the coaches”

THE Prometheus won 79-67 away from home AEK Betsson and took the qualification for the “8” of the Basketball Champions League, waiting to know his opponent.

The guard of Patrina, Antonis Koniarismade his own intervention on EOK WebRadio’s “Live Replay” show and talked about his team’s progress in the tournament, stressing that everyone will do everything so that the Prometheus as high as possible.

He said in detail:

For the qualification victory over AEK: “It was a final for us. There was neither if we have won AEK again, nor if we have played again, nor if it is in Greece, nor if it is in Europe. It didn’t matter at all. We needed a win even by one point whoever we were playing. I think that was the only point that was enough for us to show that face and win.”

For the goals in BCL: “I think that two Greek teams in the next phase of the BCL is something very big for Greece in general. It is an event that has grown a lot in recent years. We didn’t set a target for BCL. All we said from the beginning of the year was that we wanted to “build” a team that would be what the coach said, a team, with all capital letters. I think we have succeeded.”

On their potential quarter-final opponents: “All three teams are of a very high standard, so whoever comes we will prepare properly. We certainly don’t want to stop here. We had a really big win in the second group, we had big wins in general. We certainly don’t want the journey to stop here, but we have to do our best, we have to fight and we’ll see that game by game.”

If they want to avoid a Spanish team: “Malaga and Tenerife are also of a very high standard. I also played last year against Málaga, they are very strong at home. I think we are also very good at home. And Bonn is a very good team, they have a different way of playing and a different character competitively, they are a tougher team and at the same time very quality. We are just waiting to see the opponent. My feeling is that we will play against Tenerife”.

Regarding the statements of Ilias Papatheodorou: “It doesn’t go to someone individually, it goes to the whole group of players, the staff, the management and the coaches themselves, because we don’t talk about them very often, but this year they have done an amazing job. They have helped us both individually and as a team to manage not only the games but also the situations we may find ourselves in during the season. A lot of times teams have ups and downs and that’s, for me, the difference of a very good coaching staff, when they can keep the team going when they start to go down in some games due to fatigue or pressure. They have done this very well and deserve to be congratulated. This “bond” that we have at the moment is also something very special for me and it may be the first time that I too feel so “bonded” with an entire group of players”.