By Kostas Giataganas/ info@eurohoops.net
After playing last season in Greece for Lavrio BC and starting this season in Poland with Rosa Radom, which also competed in the Basketball Champions League, the 24 years old guard signed with AEK.
Since then, he has won the Greek Cup over Olympiacos and was the last second hero in the road win of his team against Nymburk for the Basketball Champions League round of 16.
AEK is making Final Four dreams and Punter is the man who gave the extra spark for all this to happen.
– In the Basketball Champions League round of 16, we experienced a thriller that ended well for AEK, with your shot.
“It was crazy. It was just crazy. I believe we were down going into the fourth quarter. I just credit Manny Harris for keeping us in the game, because he was making every single shot, he was on fire and he kept us close. He tied the game up and from there we kind of just took over. With my shot, I was looking at Mike the whole time and I think he knew a layup could tie and a three would win it, so at that point, it was like, ‘Let’s just win it.’ So he passed it, and once he passed it, I knew I was shooting it and it went in.”
-You said that you looked at Mike, Mike looked at you. Didn’t you say anything to him? Was it just eye contact?
“Dusan set the screen, Mike drove. As Mike was driving he looked at me a little bit, I guess to see where the players were going to be, so he looked at me a little bit and I just made sure I kept following him, and he had some time and room to throw the ball back. And once he threw it I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s going up.’”
-It was now or never…
“Exactly. And I work on that shot. I shoot that shot thousands of times, my whole life.”
??? @KPJunior_ SENDS @AEKbcgr TO THE 1/4 FINALS ???#Road2Final4 #BasketballCL pic.twitter.com/bYy4uTJ8P9
— #BasketballCL (@BasketballCL) March 14, 2018
-Have you ever scored a shot like that before? A qualification shot?
“That was one of the biggest shots in my professional career, for sure, in my whole entire life. It’s up there with some other shots I’ve made, but in terms of my professional career, it’s my biggest shot.”
-You mentioned that the game had many ups and downs, that you were down several points. Did you feel at some point that it was mission impossible?
“No, I never did. As we were playing, the whole game I never thought ‘It’s over.’ Sometimes you look at the clock and you say ‘We’ve got to put a move on it’ but there was never a point in time where it was like, ‘It’s over.’ As well as Manny was playing I was thinking, ‘There’s no way this can be over,’ because he’s just keeping us in the game and we took care of the rest.
-So, Manny was the factor that made you believe in the win?
“For sure. He was hot, they couldn’t stop him, he was making every basket. And I’m looking at the clock, looking at the score and I’m thinking we can pull it off, there’s no way we can lose this.”
-And now you have the game against Strasbourg in the quarterfinals. What do you think about this match-up?
“I’ve played against them twice. They know who I am. We have some good new players that they’ve never seen or played against so I think it’s going to be a really good series.”
-If this game goes well you will qualify for the Final Four. Have you considered that there is a possibility that the Final Four will take place here in the Olympic Sports Center Athens?
“For sure. Is that going to happen?”
-If AEK qualifies, the administration can ask for the Final Four to take place here. It will be held on the court of one of the four teams.
“I hope so. I sure hope so. If it is here and we’re in the Final Four, that’s going to be amazing. But first we have to take care of the second round against Strasbourg, take care of that series and then after that, we’ll se what happens.”
-So far AEK has managed to be in the Top 8 teams of the Basketball Champions League. What is your opinion about the level of the teams and also the level of the organization?
“I love the Basketball Champions League. This is my first year in the competition and from before when I was in Poland. It’s great, I like it. I’m fortunate to continue to be playing. I like the organization, I like the format, I don’t have any complaints. It’s really good.”
-As you mentioned, you have also played with Rosa Radom this season, where you had very good numbers. Why did you decide to leave Poland to come here? What was the motivation?
“It was just an opportunity. It’s not like I said, ‘I want to leave Poland.’ If you have a job and another job comes along with more opportunities and benefits, anyone would look into it. I’m not saying you would leave but anyone would look into it and see how it can benefit you. That’s all it was. It wasn’t like I wanted to leave. An opportunity came along that I couldn’t ignore and that was pretty much it.”
-Is this because you consider AEK a high-level team with an administration that wants to make the team grow?
“That’s not why I left because AEK is a big team. Like I said, it was just a good opportunity and I just want to explore the opportunity and it happened to be AEK, a team I knew because I was in Greece last season.”
-I think you know, this year is a very special year for AEK because it’s been 50 years since 1968 when they won the European Cup, and I think the fans especially have connected this Basketball Champions League with the trophy of 1968. Does this give you more energy, more passion to achieve the goal?
“It’s definitely cool and something you start thinking about, you want to win even more because we’re having a great season. I came a little later but these guys were having a great season before I got here. To come here and help these guys win a Greek Cup and then playing well in the Greek league – I think we’re in third place – and then doing well in the Champions League, everything is just going so well and to win the Champions League would be great for the fans and to go far in the Greek championship would be amazing.”
-You joined the team a few days before the Cup final and you won the final. And now you scored this shot. Would you consider yourself the team’s lucky charm?
“I don’t know about the team’s lucky charm but my whole goal was to come here and help in any way I could, whatever my teammates and coaches needed me to do. So I just try to help in the best way I can. I’m not trying to come here and be the main guy. I’m just trying to help and do what the team needs me to do. I’m just happy I was able to help win the Greek Cup and advance in the Basketball Champions League and try to go even further.”
-In the Cup final you beat Olympiacos, who were EuroLeague finalists last season and one of the top teams in the EuroLeague this season. Do you think this was a message from your team that you can beat teams like Olympiacos and Panathinaikos in a series of games, a playoff series?
“For sure. We beat Olympiacos twice. In a series, you play against a team more than once. You play three or four times, depending on how it goes. We’ve proven we can beat them during the season. We have to play against them again at their home. We’ve proven we can beat them twice so why not in the playoffs? We’ll see what happens when the playoffs come if we end up playing with them but we’ve definitely proven how we can play with those guys and we can beat them.”
-Can you talk a little bit about your career before you came here, last season in Lavrio, about your college career? Can you describe your basketball career so far?
“It’s been a long journey, I’ll tell you that much. I don’t know if you followed me or not but I was having a great senior year, I was averaging 22 points in college. But then I got hurt, fractured my foot, I went to Lavrio, then went to Belgium, then Poland, and then here to AEK.
It’s so crazy because I was playing against AEK in my rookie year and I had 20 points on them, so it’s crazy how everything can change in two years. And I always think about that, how your life can change so fast, because in my rookie year I was in Lavrio and I never thought I’d be playing with AEK the next season, winning the Greek Cup and playing in the Basketball Champions League.
So, it’s crazy how life works and everything can change so fast, so I kind of just embrace that and continue to work hard because I really owe it all to God and work hard every single day, not taking anything for granted.”
-You mentioned Lavrio. Can you tell us something about them, because they’re having a great year too in the Greek League?
“They’re having an amazing year (Ed.note: Lavrio is currently tied with AEK at the third spot of the standings).”
-And for many of us, it seems like a big surprise.
“For me, because I know the coach and the players – I don’t know all the players but I know the coaching staff – it’s not really a surprise because we were playing the way they’re playing now towards the end of the season before I left. So, it’s not really a surprise to me. They’re coached well, they have really good players over there in Lavrio. So, seeing those guys, being tied in third place, it doesn’t surprise me and I can’t wait to play them. I look forward to playing them, I can’t wait.”
-You have to play against them in the playoffs.
“Exactly. That should be fun. I’m happy for Lavrio, though. They’re having a great year.”
-You also mentioned that the last two years have been crazy with many changes. Would you consider the option of staying with AEK for the next season as well?
“For sure. I just try to stay focused on right now. I don’t want to start thinking about next year. Right now we’re in the Basketball Champions League playoffs, we will play against Strasbourg – I think we play on Sunday – so I try to stay in the present and then, once that’s over I’ll think about the future. Thinking about now as well as next year can be too much so I just try to stay focused on the present.”
-Do you want to promise something to AEK’s fans? And maybe to ask something from them? I ask this because in many games AEK doesn’t have the attendance that they could have, considering the team’s level.
“Since I’ve been here, I think the crowd has been amazing. In terms of promises, I have no promises. I don’t want to tell them ‘We’re going to win it all’ and then we lose and everyone wants to kill me. I would just ask them to continue to support the team like they have been doing and we’re just going to do what we can in each and every game to be the best.”