By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With the score 76 – 72 and less than two minutes left between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, Vassilis Spanoulis won a crucial foul by Chris Singleton that allowed him to reduce his team’s deficit from the free throw line, ahead of the Reds’ subsequent victory.
For Xavi Pascual, Panathinaikos’ head coach, this call was highly important, since it was given in a critical moment down the stretch. Especially given the fact that the hosts appeared in control during those moments of the match.
“When we were ahead in the score with 4 points (76 – 72) an important foul under the basket was given and that was crucial for the game’s development. Ultimately we didn’t manage to take something from the game and unfortunately we lost.”
Pascual began his comments in the press-conference saying: “I want to thank our fans that filled the arena and supported us in this derby. We were bad on defense in the first half but we improved in the second, thus gaining a chance to win the match.”
“Obviously I believe that we competed in both EuroLeague games (vs Real Madrid on the road and against Olympiacos at home) with good chances to win. Due to Mike James being sidelined we have great difficulty in creation while we have another important absence with James Gist. Despite all these, I don’t like to refer to the absent players but to the ones who are present. We showed that we recovered from this problem that appeared in the last moment and we claimed tried to claim the victory as equals. Yet we lost in the details,” he added. Here are the rest of the quotes from the game.