By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In the aftermath of the Game 1 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos Athens coach Ergin Ataman declared that if his team doesn’t manage to advance to the EuroLeague Final Four then he won’t continue at the position next year. The Turkish coach signed a two-year deal with the Greek powerhouse last summer.
“I made a promise to all the people here that we will go to the Final Four. And my promise is that. Nothing important, it’s 0 – 1. We will go to the Final Four. If we don’t go to the Final Four, I won’t be with Panathinaikos next year,” Ataman said following the defeat to Maccabi at home. This was the first home loss for the Greens in EuroLeague after December 7.
Panathinaikos, that entered the playoffs having the second seed in the regular season, saw Maccabi making a comeback from down 12 points in the third period and getting the win down the stretch thanks to big plays by Bonzie Colson and Lorenzo Brown. The latter also scored the go-ahead basket with 35 seconds remaining.
“I believe that we didn’t deserve to win tonight,” Ataman said in his opening statement. “We missed 10 free throws. Our power forwards combined for 1 out of 7 3-pointers. We made a lot of turnovers, many in the last two minutes and in the game ball offense. Players, staff, club, we thought of making a festival here before the game. All together. We didn’t deserve to win.”
Ataman criticized the decision of the referees to call a shooting foul on different 3-point attempts by Wade Baldwin. One of them was during a shot that the American player took from half court when he saw Kostas Sloukas moving to foul him to stop a transition opportunity.
The refs had to consult the Instant Replay on both occassions.
“The referees gave Wade Baldwin free throws on two ridiculous 3-point shots,” Ataman commented. “I complain that it’s not fair to give three free throws on the first shot. He told me that he’ll give me warning, I said that it’s a wanring for you and I got a technical foul. Everything was against us and we lost a game, we lost the advantage and destroyed the work we did for seven months in the regular season.”