By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
Berlin, Germany – Just hours after making history on a team level and also on a personal level, Mateusz Ponitka knows that he must stay humble, but dreams are free.
“That would be really amazing to win g… to win a medal”, he said to Eurohoops and immediately smiled adding “no, no no”, acknowledging the slip of his tongue.
After all, Poland won its last Eurobasket medal 55 years ago, and the success of the national team brings hope for more popularity of the sport in the country, however when you are in a Eurobasket semifinal, you have to aim high.
“To win a medal”, Ponitka quickly corrected himself and added in a totally sincere tone: “Everybody dreams about the gold medal, you know, that’s normal, but we want to stay humble. We are not the favorites in any of these games. France has amazing players and we are very tired”.
It’s a fairy tale run for Poland and Ponitka personally, who left Zenit St. Petersburg after the invasion of Russia to Ukraine, he was publicly attacked in Poland about playing in Russia and stayed in limbo in the summer, before signing in Reggio Emilia. And while Luka Doncic yesterday said that for sure Ponitka is NBA level, he says realistically: “I am not an NBA GM, I am not even in the EuroLeague right now”.
Poland will be tested on Friday’s Eurobasket semifinal (16/9, 17.15 CET) after the huge win over Slovenia and Ponitka is ready for a fight.