Ataman: “They beat us mentally and tactically – I hope I will be on the bench tomorrow”

After mentioning what happened with his illness and expressing his hope that tomorrow he will be on the Panathinaikos bench in the match against Maccabi Tel Aviv, he spoke again about the derby with Olympiakos, analyzing what happened and the reasons for the defeat.

“Everything was wrong. They beat us mentally and tactically, they beat us with their very good performance. They played better than us. We had our chance in the last two minutes, we took the lead” he mentioned among other things and underlined that in tomorrow’s game his players should be more focused on defense.

What he said in detail:

For his own situation:

“I have been sick for the last 2-3 days. I went to the hospital to check on the situation. The doctor said I’m fine and I don’t need to stay in the hospital. I have a virus, I’m sick, but I’m… alive, next to my team. We did the training and I hope that tomorrow I will be on the bench”.

For the… medical report of the Panathinaikos Aktor:



“You know Grigonis and Antetokounmpo will not be on the roster, they need more time. But Slukas trained with the team. I think 90% he will be on the court and compete tomorrow.”

For Maccabi Tel Aviv:



“She has changed a lot in her roster, but she has athleticism and energy. I saw them against Real Madrid when they beat Real. They are an aggressive team, they run a lot. Last year we had two losses in the regular season against Maccabi. Tomorrow is an important game at home. We have to be aggressive, have confidence and get the win. Maccabi is very dangerous.”

On whether the Shamrocks should focus primarily on their transition and pick ‘n roll defense:



“Yes. I found out that Tamir Blatt will also play tomorrow. Maccabi has shooters, knows how to play in transition and pick ‘n roll. We have to be careful. Against Olympiakos we were very bad defensively, we allowed them to score 94 points. For sure, we have to be better defensively.”

To fix errors related to derby:



“Everything was wrong. They beat us mentally and tactically, they beat us with their very good performance. They played better than us. We had our chance in the last two minutes, we took the lead. But Fournier hit a big shot and they took control. They beat us, they beat me, they beat the players. They beat us all.”