Boosted by Round 8's Italian derby victory, third-place Virtus (6-2) heads to Athens aiming to bolster its position amid the playoffs places against Panathinaikos (4-4).
Luca Banchi, Virtus: 'We will ask our men to produce another contest of high technical and competitive content'
Seasons
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 9 of 34
Group Regular Season
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After failing to score any points at all in the previous three games, Iffe Lundberg was the key to the victory over Milan by pouring in 19 points, including 17 in the final quarter, so Virtus will hope that his return to form proves permanent. Ergin Ataman's revival of Panathinaikos continued on Wednesday with a battling home win over Zalgiris that saw Dinos Mitoglou underline his status as one of the team's leaders by netting 19 points on 4-for-5 three-point shooting. Expect a physical battle between two teams who favor inside offense, respectively ranked sixth (55.8%) and second (58%) in two-point shooting accuracy.
Luca Banchi, Virtus head coach
"Panathinaikos is certainly one of the queen teams of the summer market that, with the arrival of Coach Ataman, brought to Athens players of the highest profile and international experience, such as Sloukas, Lessort, Hernangomez, Vildoza and Grant. We continue to manage the emergency by asking the team to limit the impact that, a team as physical as Panathinaikos will be able to have in the basket, responding to the excellent moment of form they are experiencing, fresh from two consecutive victories, and dragged by the talent and personality of Sloukas, Vildoza, Grant, Grigonis and newcomer Nunn. An eye to the excellent performance of Mitoglou, who is racking up very high-profile performances that make him one of the main threats for our team, along with the physical impact of the centers and the creativity and scoring dangerousness of their guards. After Milan we will ask our men to produce another contest of high technical and competitive content, knowing that our organization on both halves of the court can allow us to conquer a traditionally hostile court like OAKA."
Ergin Ataman, Panathinaikos head coach
"We lost two games at home in overtime. Zalgiris came here and it was hard, but we played a bit better. We made some mistakes in threes, but we used the last possession well. This is theEuroLeague and all teams play at their best. It's important to find the best way to win. Sometimes you play great like we did in Berlin, others you have problems, especially in offense. The most important thing is the hustle and the character to win the games. Virtus are plying good basketball, especially with Shengelia under the basket. Belinelli is also playing great and Hackett played great against Milan, as well as Lundberg. They found the way to win six games. The most important thing in this game against them will be focus and aggressiveness. We missed some free throws in the first half of the last game, and this affected us negatively. I hope we will be better in free throws and open shots for the game against Virtus."
Mathias Lessort, Panathinaikos player
"We have to keep winning. We are in good shape and we have to go on like this, one game at a time. Virtus is one of the best EuroLeague teams right now. Maybe nobody expected them to be so hot, they play great basketball. Toko Shengelia is very dominant and we have to reduce his impact. We have to do many things well to win. I have to work on my turnovers. We have to be ourselves, be aggressive, play smart, secure the rebounds and play good defense. These are the keys to the game. It may sound basic, but it's true all the same."
Ognjen Dobric, Virtus player
"We have maybe one of the toughest challenges in front of us and we’ll play against a very talented team. They built a high quality roster with a great potential. We’ll play also in front of a very hyped crowd like OAKA. From our side we have to keep growing and building our identity, especially during a game like tomorrow."