By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Two years ago, Panathinaikos beat in the quarterfinals the big favorite to win the Euroleague title, Barcelona and got the final four trophy in the city of their opponents. Can history be repeated again? It will not be easy, but as Argiris Pedoulakis said in his interview in the public Greek sports radio (ΕΡΑ), the Greens will sure try.
The coach of Panathinaikos knows that the Catalans are the favorites once again, but: “I don’t want to think that they are unbeatable. Barcelona is not unbeatable. For sure they seem to be the best team, according to the numbers, having the best offense and the best defense of the competition. That why we will try to mess with their game and maybe even their mind”.
The experienced Greek coach explained himself: “Mind games can be important at this stage. Through their mind the two Greek teams managed to face opponents with bigger budgets this season. The mind is an export Greek good and we have to work with that. I believe that we do that and it’s evident by the fact that the Greek fans knows basketball. For the last 10-12 years the newspapers are also focusing on the technical analysis and not on any other stuff, so people understands basketball”.