His preparation Panathinaikou AKTOR for the Final Four of the Euroleague has entered the final stretch, with Ioannis Papapetrou to make statements on Novasports channels and refer to Ergin Ataman, his injury, Sluka-Nan and the semi-final with Fenerbahce.
What he said in detail:
“THE Ergin Ataman he is a special person, very demanding. Like a lot of coaches at this level. He is a man who loves to win, he wants to win with any player, he doesn’t care if he upsets someone. He is completely fair and has many things that make him one of the best at this level.
I want to make my game as simple as possible. The concentration is there every day, as is the case with most colleagues. When you have prepared well, there is nothing left but to see the opponent, see the plan and enter the field. On the pitch you do what he has tried so many times and you have to give your best.
It’s going to sound cliché but I didn’t feel afraid that we wouldn’t be in the Final Four. Obviously we lost the first game with her Maccabi and we found ourselves with our backs against the wall at 2-1. We deserve to be in the Final Four, I had faith in it and I thought we would make it.
Like life, basketball has its ups and downs. You have to fight together with the unexpected. We must fight every day to make our lives better. After the surgery I knew I wasn’t in the best condition, I wanted time and I have to thank Panathinaikos for giving me time. But now I feel I can help where needed, I feel ready for the Final Four, I’ve covered enough ground and now I’m waiting to play.
After a long time that I couldn’t walk, and I didn’t exercise my biggest fear was gaining weight. And since I had a sedentary life it would be much easier. I try to watch my diet and stopped eating meat because it made me gain weight. For about three months I ate no meat at all and fed only on plants. Now I can eat meat, shortbread, etc. If I make the Final Four I’ll take you along and treat you to small mug beers!
In the Final Four the big lights come on but there is nothing that different. The important thing is to enter the field and as soon as you leave to say that I gave my best. You can’t control the outcome because you’re not the only one playing, but you have to feel that feeling to feel good about yourself.
It’s no small thing to go to the Final Four after things like the president leaving. Twelve players came from last year and only Grigonis, Mandzoukas and Samoturov remained. It was a big effort, yes obviously money was involved but the whole project was not easy. After the whole year as it has been and seeing what we have done, I can say that we deserve to be in the Final Four, with the future looking bright.
THE Sloukas and Nan they make my life so much easier. I want to know where I need to be efficient. I consider it a great blessing to have them on the team.
Fenerbahce is a very well-worked team. Changed with Saras, you can already see it. They’re a very hard-nosed team. A very important thing that Fener has is that even on their bad night with an excellent 10 they will play 7. They don’t have the unpredictability factor but they have foundations. It will be one closed gamethere will be many battles, but the goal is for us to play in the final.
THE You’re in a basket he is the best passer-playmaker I have ever played with. THE Papagiannis in the summer he heard a lot, he was a Panathinaikos player through difficult years. I’m really happy for both guys who made it this far, but we’ll go through.
If on Monday morning I haven’t slept at all, it will probably be for the best. But I might not sleep from my sadness if we lose. However, it is certain that we will give everything to win”.
Source: Sport Fm
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