By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
There were no celebrations last night for Fenerbahce and Olympiacos following their victories in the semifinals between Real Madrid and CSKA Moscow respectivelly.
Rightfully so. It was just the first step required to reach the throne of EuroLeague and claim it as the new continental champion.
“We didn’t stay on what happened to the semifinal. Not ever for one second. We won a big game against CSKA Moscow but we didn’t celebrate. We just took some rest”, said Olympiacos‘ power forward Giorgos Printezis who had come from a 14 points/7 rebounds game vs the Russian team.
Zeljko Obradovic agreed. “Like Giorgos said… not time for celebration.”
Zoc then proceeded to applaud his opponents in the Final for what they did yesterday (19/5) and for all their accomplishments over the years.
“They have a lot of character as a team. You saw in the semifinal how they turned the tide of the game with their bench players. They are generally a great organization. All the things they have done in the previous Final Four tournaments show that,” he said.
But perhaps his most important statement was a message of peace and unity which held a particulalry strong meaning after yesterday’s clashes between Turkish and Greek fans in Taksim square.
“The Final Four is in Istanbul and I know we will have a lot of fans in the gym. I really want to ask them obviously to help my team, Fenerbahce, their team, but also to be really correct with Olympiacos and especially its fans. Not only tomorrow (21/5) in the gym but today, everywhere in the streets. To give hospitality to the people from Greece. Everything is about a basketball game. I want to ask Fenerbahce fans to respect Olympiacos and its fans.”
Olympiacos head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos who had previously described Obradovic as the “best coach in Europe” didn’t want to reveal his cards ahead of the Final.
“If I give an answer about anything tactical, the coach here will listen to us. We have a plan and we will folow it to the end. I don’t know if the style of Fenerbahce fits our style but we will play our game and in the end the team that wants it the most will win it.”
Last night Ekpe Udoh definitely look like he wanted it pretty badly against Real Madrid with a near triple-double performance of 18 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow’s match,” he said. “We are excited, we have fought all year for this and we are going to fight for 40 minutes.”
When asked about the impact Vassilis Spanoulis has in crunch time, Udoh remembered something he said last night on how they should…. “Kill Bill”.
“Not literally, of course! On the floor, in the last five minutes… somebody has to ‘kill’ him”.
How to stop V-Span is certainly one key aspect of what Fenerbahce must do in the Final but according to Obradovic, there are many other things involved on how to achieve victory.
“I tried to stop Sergio Llull last night and he scored 28 points. It’s important to be prepared for everyone and that is our plan. Olympiacos has many quality players. From the bench.. or young players. They always come back. We must be ready for everyone. Everything is important in a Final. Concentration in all 40 minutes will play a big part. My players must realize that.”