Ataman: “The second game of the devil’s week is always more dangerous” – What he said about Nan and Papapetrou

After the great victory over Armani Milano, Panathinaikos welcomes them Baskonia (19/12, 19:45) so that he gets his second pink card in the “devil’s week” of the Euroleague.

One day before the match, Ergin Ataman he talked about the dangers that always hide the second game of a “double” competition, he referred to the much improved image of his team against the Italians, while he talked about the situation of the Ioannis Papapetrou and Kendrick Nunn.

His statements in detail:

For the match against Baskonia: “Every time in the second game in a “weekend” is the most dangerous. It is difficult because after the first match we have players who have some problems and others who are undergoing treatment. We won’t have a chance to prepare regularly due to time, but in any case we played well yesterday. We found our confidence and aggression and had great support from the crowd. It will be very important to forget what happened yesterday and concentrate on tomorrow’s game against Baskonia, who are a very dangerous team. It has players with great offensive ability, such as Howard, Moneke and Sedekerskis. We have to be ready to fight to get the win, which will be very important at the end of the first round.”.

For the defense part: “Yesterday everything was perfect. Not only with the aggressiveness in defense but also in attack with Nunn having a fantastic first quarter because we really finished the game from the first quarter. But when you play at home you have to have that aggression, to have the match on the strength and the contacts to show the strength of the team, but we have to keep that in the away games as well. But we will think about that later. Now we all want to make the same atmosphere as yesterday, with our world. It’s a very dangerous game. Baskonia is a good team with a very experienced coach, Lasso. They beat Maccabi away yesterday and it’s a good win for them.”

As to whether all players are available: “I don’t know the situation of Papapetros. Nan also had some problems, but I hope he will be in the game tomorrow.”

For Kalaitzakis: “He did his job very well. When he is focused and aggressive he doesn’t make mistakes and plays for our team he helps a lot from the bench”.

On whether Nan is the best player in Europe: “We will see the best player of the year at the end of the season. Now of course Nan yesterday put on a great performance. But Howard, who we will play tomorrow, scored 27 points against Maccabi away from home. There are many good players in Euroleague and Nan is one of them. To be honest we will see who is the best at the end of the season. For me, the best player is the champion, like Slukas, who was already recognized last year.”