Papanikolaou: “It’s not a one-on-one game, everyone should help as much as they can for the victory”

THE National team of Greece comes face to face in SEF with Slovenia of Luka Doncic (07/06, 17:30, ERT1, NovaSports Start, sport-fm.gr, News Bulletin 247), for a place in final of Pre-Olympic tournament!

In view of this confrontation, Mr Kostas Papanikolaou he talked about his feelings before such a big match, about his absence Costa Antetokounmpobut also for his long-awaited duel John by Doncic.

In detail what he said:

For the match against Slovenia: “It’s another step in what we want to do. That’s why we train, to play these matches. We face a team with a player who is a world figure, as we have one. They are a well-worked team, they certainly rely a lot on Doncic, but we are concerned with being at the best possible level, executing our plan as well as possible and let others care how they will deal with our team and Giannis”.

For Spanoulis: “The coach is the beginning of the team, who must make you believe and show you that he believes first of all. He has done a great job with all the kids, he knows the ins and outs and the path to success. I think he has touched all the kids and has passed his will on to the whole team.”

On pre-game feelings: “We’re generally looking forward to the game. It’s a big game. when you’ve been playing games like this since you were a little kid, you dream of giving, let alone at our headquarters, with the whole world on our side supporting us. It’s something magical and I can’t wait to experience it.”

For the absence of Costas Antetokounmpo: “Kostas Antetokounmpo is an important player for us, a piece of the puzzle that started working all together. We are certainly saddened by his loss and it takes several parts of our game off the table, but this is sport and we have to keep our heads up and look ahead.”

For the duel between Doncic and Antetokounmpo: “They are definitely two world-class players and role models for all the young guys, all over the world. But it’s not a one-on-one game, so of course the other pieces are also very important, so each one of us has to help as much as we can and as much as we need to get to victory.”