By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos Athens coach Ergin Ataman explained how he fed off of the loud and intense atmosphere in the game of his team against Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade since
“No problem,” Ataman said in the post-game presser after the away win of his team. “It’s happened in some other courts too. Except some single words, I didn’t hear any bad things. The fans do their job. Of course, I’m the winning coach here over the last 4-5 years. They like to go against me. I get more motivation, focus and concentration in that atmosphere. So, thank you for that.”
Panathinaikos trailed 52 – 38 early in the second half but erased that deficit to approach 56 – 55 at the end of the period.
“I told my players that we play 5 vs. 5 on the court,” Ataman mentioned. “Fans don’t play. We were scared to play basketball in the first half, we were scared to play defense. We talked about this and that we need to improve our aggressiveness and fight.”
Zvezda kept leading until Kostas Sloukas made it 71 – 72 with 2:32 to play. The two sides traded blows and Lorenzo Brown hit the go-ahead free throws, seven seconds before the final buzzer. Milos Teodosic missed on the other end.