By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In Game 4 of the EuroLeague Playoffs, Real Madrid managed to beat Partizan Belgrade, taking home the 85-78 victory in the Stark Arena. Despite the loss, Ioannis Papapetrou had his best performance of the season, scoring 18 points with 4 rebounds and 3/5 from beyond the arc.
“Before basketball, I want to give my condolences to the victims of the school shooting. It’s terrifying what happened. The world is a very different place, we come here to play basketball and people lose their children and family members. Our thoughts are with them. I really want to thank the people who came to the arena to support us, we really appreciate it”, he said to Mozzart Sport following the game.
Then, he went on to speak more about the tragedy. “When we all found out the news, we were devastated. You wake up in the morning, you try to focus on basketball. I personally don’t have kids, but I’m terrified if anything like this happens. It was an amazing atmosphere and I wish this changed something. I wish people will do more things with love, rather than violence”, Papapetrou added.
Moving on to the performance and the series, the former Panathinaikos captain has hope for the last away game in Madrid. “It’s 2-2, it’s not finished. We are sad, but to be honest with ourselves, when we started the season with Partizan not being able to play EuroLeague for many years to be one game away from the Final Four, you can’t be reckless. It would be very sweet to be 3-0 or 3-1, but we can’t look at the past. We have to improve and be better”, the Greek small forward commented.
“We will have a full team. Kevin Punter will be with us, and we all know how important he is for us. We’ll go over there to give everything, more than 100%. I truly believe that if one team deserves to be in this Final Four, it’s us”, he said before talking about how it will be to try to contain Walter Tavares, who dominated both Game 3 and Game 4. “We need to adjust, he’s a great player”, he added.
The Greek player, who also represented Olympiacos and Panathinaikos in the EuroLeague, is averaging 7.0 points and 1.8 rebounds per game, shooting 55.6% from two and 40.0% from beyond the arc. This is his first EuroLeague season with Partizan Belgrade.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague