Spanoulis: “I had spoken to James and told him that he should play smart”

THE Vasilis Spanoulis made an ideal debut in the EuroLeague as he saw Monaco leave OAKA with a great 91-88 win against Panathinaikos.

Understandably, the Greek manager was clearly pleased with his team’s performance and the result, and he referred to what he saw from his players that he liked in this match, he spoke of the good team-mate Mike Jameswhile commenting on what he considers essential to change in the Monegasques.

In detail what he said:

For Monaco’s win: “For me everything happened quickly this week, I went to Monaco and within two days I was back here for a difficult game. It was an excellent match against the European champions in a difficult atmosphere. Even within two days, for me it is important that the players understand what philosophy I want to see in the team and what basketball I want us to play, even if we lost today. We had 26 assists, Mike James had 6 points and 10 assists, and he could have a lot more.

I’m happy for him, he showed a lot of maturity. In general we have excellent scorers and creators and one of the best regions in the Euroleague. And Alpha Diallo had a great game, not just for the points but for the coverage he gives the defense. The mental toughness we showed was also very important, we had character despite the ups and downs and I am happy with this difficult victory. Congratulations to Panathinaikos and to my team.”

On what he managed to change in Monaco: “In two days I tried to change the mentality and the way the players think. There is plenty of talent, everyone knows that. We have players who play well one-on-one, but basketball is not tennis for isolation. Of course it is important to have such leaders, but we still have a lot of work to do. Somewhere we got confused with the new plays, it’s not easy, but we have to change things to move forward”

On whether he had said anything to Mike James before the match: “I had spoken to Mike the day before and told him he had to be smart because opposing teams always shut down the best player. He is a great scorer and an excellent passer, he has great class. The most important thing I told the players is that there is only one thing, to win games regardless of who scores.”