Fresh from a morale-boosting win in Madrid, third-placed Panathinaikos (17-10) will look to keep on rolling by overcoming ASVEL (6-21), which also lifted its spirits by overcoming Milan last week.
Ergin Ataman, Panathinaikos: 'An even more dangerous game'
Seasons
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 28 of 34
Regular Season
Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensPAO
8567
LDLC ASVEL VilleurbanneASV
Overview
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We can look forward to a classic backcourt tussle between Greens leader Kostas Sloukas and ASVEL veteran Nando de Colo, who returned from injury to net 13 points in the win over Milan. The French team will also have to handle powerhouse Mathias Lessort after his MVP-worthy exploits in Madrid. His fellow French center, Joffrey Lauvergne, will look to counteract Lessort by repeating his double-double (10 points and 11 rebounds) from the Greens' 81-89 victory between the teams in December.
Ergin Ataman, Panathinaikos head coach
"For me this is an even more dangerous game than the one against Real, because if you lose in Madrid it's okay. Everyone went there and lost, so we got an extra win out of that. If you lose at home against ASVEL, it's a big damage for all the previous game. They are a dangerous team. Maybe they are not in the playoff race, but they got Nando De Colo back from a two-month injury and, you know, De Colo is De Colo. For me they have a very good roster. Okay they had some problems this season, but they will come here with no pressure. I don't want anybody to relax for this game, not even our fans. This will not be an easy game. We had great contribution form our fans in all home games and we all need to be ready."
Aleksander Balcerowski, Panathinaikos player
"It's a very important game for us tomorrow. As coach said, they are going to come here without anything to lose, so they can be very dangerous just playing basketball, not caring about anything. We need to be focused because those games can be really hard. I'm always ready to help the team. Whenever coach wants to play me, I am ready to give what he asks of me."