Spanoulis: “We can’t have a break of 20 days, the players of the national team must also rest”

THE Vassilis Spanoulis praised his team’s reaction and good performance and victory over Colossus for the playoffs. On the contrary, he did not hide his displeasure with the calendar, with 20 days of inactivity for several teams and the risk that the players of the National team would be put at his disposal breathlessly after the finals.

“We had said that we need to rediscover our mood and our identity with the children after an amazing year in Europe. Somewhere we emptied spiritually and it was logical. We made a tremendous effort and now we have said that we must concentrate on Greece. We had two weeks to play Prometheus and we weren’t good, especially in the first 10 minutes when we conceded 35 points. This is not our team. Today we played with great spirit and dedication on both sides of the field, both defensively and offensively. We chased too much, we had a great desire to pass the ball to surprise and organized attacks. Congratulations guys, it’s just 1-0 and we have to prepare for the second leg“, he initially reported about the game.

On the long break in the league, he said: “When you are Greek you want Greek basketball to do well and since I am also the coach of the national team, it really saddens me many times that we are far behind in some things compared to other countries. We see that matches are being played everywhere. It is not right for many teams to sit idle for 20 days. This is a summer holiday, not an in-season holiday. Also, something must be done, the right procedure so that the championship ends smoothly and the children for the National team can rest. The national team is the mirror of all basketball. It was it is and it will be. We must all make an effort, all of us, those who love basketball, all those who represent basketball, so that the national team can start its preparation within the time limits that we have set and agreed upon in order to be ready for a very big tournament that is coming in Athens. Everyone should hear this and should keep it in mind, that the national team is above all of us. And we must preserve it as the apple of our eye, because every development of basketball came from the National team in 1987 and 2005 and we must preserve that. Be very careful, be organized, especially in years when there is such a tournament in our country».