Spanoulis: “For me it’s not the statistics that count, but the victories – We are a real team, with confidence”

A National team out of the wildest dreams of the Greeks swept Luka Doncic’s Slovenia 96-68 in the packed SEF and advanced to the final of Pre-Olympic Tournament.

After the match, Vassilis Spanoulis stated that he was satisfied with the way the “blue and white” played, but mainly with the mentalitythe character, joy and confidence that his players bring to the court throughout his tournament.

In detail what he said:

On the win over Slovenia and the upcoming final: “We had a plan and it is important that the players accepted it and implemented it. They were fantastic, especially in defense tonight. This was the most important element. Now we have the final in front of us to achieve our goal. I don’t want to talk about some players individually, it’s not fair because they all played amazing.

For me it’s not the stats that count, it’s the wins. We are here to win and I feel blessed that these guys are playing to win. The most important thing is to believe in the plan but also to have players who can implement it. The guys are great characters, have very high IQs and are winners. There is great respect and an excellent atmosphere, within such a short time we are building a culture not only for now, but also for the future. We will wait for our opponent and see who it will be.”

For the many well-aimed long shots: “We are winners and we take every free shot we have. Most of our shots, 80-90%, are good. I remember in my time we didn’t have big shooters, but we made big shots. In Greece we always look for the negative. The point is to get good shots, if it goes in or not it doesn’t matter and it’s a matter of the day. They won’t judge a game.”

For the commonalities in relation to the last team that went to the Olympics: “What 2008 has in common with now is chemistry and roles. We are a real team, we are a team that is not afraid to lose. He enters to represent Greece with pride. It is important to build this culture for now and beyond. It is important that the children know why they have come, just like we did when we used to break our legs. We’re having fun, we’re a group and what we see off the pitch represents what we see on it.”

For the defense: “We adjusted our defense with some different elements. All the congratulations go to the children. Every coach depends on the players. That’s why I’m happy to have such characters and excellent players who with a training execute the plan so well and do it with joy. I thank Lukas and coach Sekulic for the kind words, but the children deserve the congratulations.”

For the Kalathis-Wokap duo: “Everyone is judged by their choices. Other coaches didn’t think Calathes and Walkup could play well. But we have a large size and can use many shapes.”.

Regarding the previous failures of the national team in major competitions: “I don’t like the words misfortune, curse, luck… In some knockouts we didn’t play that well and we lost. When things are going well in Greece everything is perfect, when we lose it’s everyone’s fault. We have to love the National team with its good and bad. The most important thing for me is that the children come happy, feel honored to play for the National team and that we all have one goal: to properly represent our country. We are on the right track.”