By Kostas Giataganas/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos decided to forfeit the Greek Cup semifinal game against Panathinaikos, by refusing to play the second half. “We are well rested cause we played just half a game the other night”, joked Rick Pitino before addressing the issue in a much more serious note in the press conference before Sunday’s Greek Cup final against PAOK.
“I will say one thing and only one thing about the Olympiacos game because it’s not the time for that”, said Pitino.
“Many years ago, my first year in Kentucky, we had only seven scholarships players. I took over a program that was on probation and we went to Kansas. We were down 30 at halftime, we only had seven players on our team. In the second half, we had four players with four fouls each. So it looked like we were going to play with four players versus five because the referee, in my opinion, was so bad. I made up my mind, we lost by 55 and the next day I said to the commissioner all the bad calls that I thought were bad. So what I would say is this. I have great respect for PAOK, for Olympiacos and for every team we play against but I am more concerned about the image that we painted for all the young Greeks, that they have to understand that you play the game. And if you have a problem afterward, you handle it the right way. But because of the young people, watching this, you have to finish the game. I have great respect for Olympiacos, their coach, and their players, but the game is much bigger than Rick Pitino, much bigger than David Blatt, much bigger than Panathinaikos, much bigger than Olympiacos. The game is the game. And you have to respect it at all times”.
Due to security reasons, the Greek Cup final is played during the last few years in Heraklion, Crete, and only students are permitted to attend the game. “My only wish for Greece would be that fans would enjoy the game of basketball for what it is, a great game, and not get carried away with Olympiacos versus Panathinaikos”, added Pitino. “You just have to enjoy the beauty and the passion of the game, but there should never be a fight. There should never be anything else than sportsmanship. When I was at Louisville would I want to beat Kentucky? I wanted to kill them. But when the game ended, if they beat us, I gave them all the credit in the world. We went to work the next day and tried to get better. If I had a wish for Greek, I would hope that everyone understands sportsmanship, that we are all Greeks, including me”.