Panathinaikos AKTOR-Olympiakos: The curtain opens on the finals at the packed OAKA!

Finals time in this year’s Stoiximan Basket Leaguewith Panathinaikos AKTOR and Olympiakos facing off at OAKA (9:15 p.m., ΕΟΤ3, bwinΣΕΡΤFM 94.6, sport-fm.gr), looking for a 1-0 so that they can take the first step towards winning this year’s title!

Fresh from the triumph in Berlin, where he climbed to the top of European basketball for the seventh time in his glorious history, the Panathinaikos comfortably overcame the obstacle of Aris in the semi-finals of the championship and now… is charging to finish this season in the most ideal way, at the same time putting an end to the streak of winning seven domestic titles that Olympiacos is “running”. The “greens” are asked to make sure that there is not the slightest mental “emptiness” due to the European triumph, while at the same time they will look for a way to overcome the fatigue that exists after a devastating season.

As far as racing is concerned, Ergin Ataman he has all his players available and it remains to be seen which of the foreigners he chooses to leave out of the squad. “We have played 7 times this year with Olympiacos, we have lost 4 games, but we have won 3. Every game is different. Sure the tall guys play a role, the guards play a role especially in my system. It will be a very tough final. All games will be derbies. I hope everyone is talking about basketball afterwards. Most important of all is how the players will manage the games.”said the coach of Panathinaikos at the press conference before the start of the finals, while on his part the Kostas Sloukas added: “Olympiacos is a very high-quality team, it can break any stadium. It is important to win the championship, which Olympiacos has won for two years. There was a lot of emotional charge after the Final 4. We are very happy to win, but we have to come back to reality. The title of champion is one of our most important goals, perhaps the most important. We are European champions, but we want to establish ourselves in Greece as well. Olympiacos has won two championships in a row, so it is very important for us to perform strong”.

On his part, Olympic he also comfortably qualified from the semi-finals, celebrating two comfortable victories over Peristeri bwin. After winning the Super Cup and the Cup, tonight the “red and white” hope to start the finals with a break, so that they can get even closer to the big goal of the domestic treble. The Piraeus are invited to prove that they have put behind them the disappointment they experienced in the Final 4 of the Euroleague, presenting the good playing face they had for most of this season.

THE George Bartzokas saw the… trump card his team seemed to have with the superweapon at ‘5’ reversed after his serious injury Mustafa Falwho will not have time to recover before the end of the season, while at the same time Moses Wright selected to remain off the league roster. Now, with him Nikola Milutinov as the only center, the coach of Olympiakos is called upon to find the solutions with… alchemy.

“Congratulations to Panathinaikos and Ergin for winning the Euroleague. We’ve played 7 times this year, we might go to 10 or 11 or 12 games total. There are different stories behind each game. The team must hit the opponent’s weak spots. I don’t believe that only tall people play, someone has to pass them, someone has to direct them. Unfortunately we’ve lost Fal, we’ve also lost any armor we might have had in that position and we have to fill the void.”said Giorgos Bartzokas at the press conference ahead of the finals, while the leader of the “red and whites”, Kostas Papanikolaoustated: “The way basketball has become, home field advantage is very important for whoever has the last game at home. Home advantage is serious if we reach the fifth final. We have seen that seats are broken. It is important for the team to have the fans with them. Both teams have proven that they can win at the opposing stadiums, the level is very high”.

The “eternals” have met seven times during this season, with the beginning taking place at the end of September, when Olympiacos took the victory with 75-51, in Rhodes and in the final of the Super Cup. The “red and white” also celebrated a few days later at OAKA, winning 88-78 in overtime (76-76 regular time) for the Euroleague, followed by two consecutive victories of Panathinaikos for the Stoiximan Basket League, with 66-54 in the SEF and with 85-80 in OAKA. Piraeus prevailed 69-58 in Heraklion, Crete, in the final of the Cup, while they also won 71-65 at home for the second round of the regular season of the Euroleague, while the “greens” prevailed 77-71, in the most recent derby, last April.

The referees of tonight’s first final will be Papapetrou, Karpanos and Theonas.