By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Greece captain Kostas Papanikolaou was forced to miss the 2025 EuroBasket Qualifiers game against Great Britain Thursday (21/11) since he was playing in the EuroLeague with Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Baskonia the same day.
The two matches actually took place almost at the same time so Papanikolaou didn’t even watch the loss of Greece to the British side live.
“The most important thing is the concentration side of the game. Have a longevity in our game. To not stop putting on intensity… all these according to what I watched on video. I don’t want to lie to you because we [Olympiacos] played the same day in this ‘beautiful’ calendar that has been set with FIBA and EuroLeague,” Papanikolaou said. “Every picture I have [from the game] I have it from the video we saw today, from what I heard from the coaches, what they told me and explained to me in some personal meetings we had.”
While several of his Olympiacos teammates will get a chance to get some rest these days due to the domestic leagues break, this won’t be the case for Papanikolaou and other Greece players that played in EuroLeague last week, like Reds guard Giannoulis Larentzakis and Panathinaikos forward Panagiotis Kalaitzakis.
“I believe that a full gym with little kids, with Greek flags is enough to make you forget everything and be ready to give your all for the national emblem,” Papanikolaou said.
“The team is ready,” Papanikolaou also mentioned. “We made some preparation. The guys gave a hard fight in Great Britain. We saw some details on the video and worked on them in practice. Things that should’ve been done differently. We will have a full gym – which is very important. It’s always beautiful to play in a gym full of blue and white flags.”