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Post-game quotes: Panathinaikos vs. Zalgiris

Post-game quotes: Panathinaikos vs. Zalgiris

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1 marzo 20224 Minuto di lettura

Post-game quotes: Panathinaikos vs. Zalgiris

This is what the protagonists had to say after the Round 18 showdown between Panathinaikos OPAP Athens and Crvena Zalgiris Kaunas.

Regular Season

Round 18 of 34

game Zalgiris Kaunas vs Panathinaikos OPAP Athens

Group Regular Season

1 marzo 2022, 19:00

Regular Season

1 marzo 2022, 19:00

Regular Season

Panathinaikos OPAP Athens

PAO

Zalgiris Kaunas

ZAL

Punteggio finale

Jure Zdovc, Zalgiris Kaunas head coach:

"Congratulations to my players for a good game. I really didn’t honestly know what to expect. I felt pressure because Panathinaikos has some problems and we’re on a good run. But everything that is happening with the war, my players are only focused on the situation in Ukraine and I didn’t know what to expect. But from the first second, they really played hard, strong, concentrated. I would say good on defense - though sometimes we relaxed because we scored a lot. But maybe just those three-pointers from Nedovic. We prepared for that and that was the only way that Panathinaikos could come back. This hurt, but generally, we controlled the game, which is not easy in OAKA. We took a big 20-point lead and this is not good here. In the right moments, we scored some shots and we somehow controlled the game until the end.”

Dimitris Priftis, Panathinaikos OPAP Athens head coach:

"Unfortunately we had a really bad first quarter. We did so much damage to ourselves. Not that we played correctly and good the other three quarters, but at least we had a more balanced performance. If in these games, you step on the floor and you don’t touch the opponent and on offense, you don’t pass the ball enough, the opponent will have these percentages on three-points (42.3%) and on two-points (61.9%). We were not good enough today. Of course, there are excuses, but I cannot use excuses now. It is what it is and we have to continue.”

Edgaras Ulanovas, Zalgiris Kaunas forward:

“Most important was that we won today. We are last in the standings this season. Nobody wants to be last. Hopefully, this will be a huge boost for us to go even higher. It’s important to have a good game on Thursday. It’s a tough schedule. We need everybody, and we need to play like this - or even better.”

Joffrey Lauvergne, Zalgiris Kaunas center:

“We are feeling good. It’s our third victory in a row. We are playing in Berlin in two days so we have a big chance to win four in a row - if we play this way. Let’s do it.”

Howard Sant-Roos, Panathinaikos OPAP Athens guard:

“I feel like we let everyone down in that first quarter. 30 points is unacceptable, especially because we scored only 10 and we should at least keep them to 18, maybe 20 points, but not 30. That’s unacceptable at home for sure.”