Spanoulis: “When you make appearances like this with teams that have ten times the budget, that says a lot”

That Pigeon bwin gave a great fight to OAKA, but was defeated with a score of 93-88 in the details by Panathinaikos AKTOR.

After the match, Vassilis Spanoulis he declared extremely satisfied with the performance of his players, and talked about the upcoming BCL Final Four and the battle his team will fight.

His statements in detail:

“It was a nice game by two teams, one of which is preparing for the Euroleague playoffs and we are preparing for the Final Four of the BCL. It is a very big thing for Greek basketball to have two teams in the playoffs and one team in the Final Four of the BCL and it should make us very proud, because this is how we have to see basketball if we want to move forward. It turned out to be an excellent game. We controlled the match for more than 3 quarters and most of the time we were ahead of the game. But Panathinaikos has great players and great personalities and they made great shots. The game was decided in the details. A shot we didn’t get, an assist we gave incorrectly, these things happen in basketball. I am very proud of my players and the way my team is playing. Now we have to rest and get ready for the Final Four.”

On whether the match was a test ahead of the BCL Final Four: “It wasn’t a test. This is how we play all year, most of the time. We didn’t do anything different from what we do all year. For the Peristeri team, the budget we have and what we represent make it a terrible year with duration, which is difficult. We are constantly improving and playing at a high percentage of energy, which is very difficult. We have quality in our game. It was a game that, like everything else, we came to play our basketball and claim victory. We knew we had a week to prepare for the Final Four, we weren’t concerned about that. The most important thing is to finish the match healthy, to claim the victory and as I told the guys to keep the good things, fix the bad things and move on.”

For the reason that Peristeri bwin with both Olympiakos and Panathinaikos was close until the end, but did not get the victory even though it was worth fighting for: “We were not worthies, we were much more than worthies. Worthy is the one who just looks good and loses in the end. We were not worth fighting, we controlled the game for the longest time. With teams that have enormous quality, are contending for the Euroleague and have ten times the budget of us, that says a lot. We lose because Olympiacos and Panathinaikos basketball are playing and they have great players, excellent technical staffs. The point is to lose, not win these games. With our performance, we manage to take the matches there.”