By Stefanos Tatsios / info@eurohoops.net
Alongside Kostas Sloukas and Sasha Vezenkov, Kostas Papanikolaou stepped up big against Fenerbahce in Game 5 of their best-of-five series, leading Olympiacos to the Final Four in Kaunas. The 32-year-old veteran had a double-double of 14 points (6/9 FG) and 11 rebounds in the 84-72 victory.
Following the victory, the Greek expert talked to Eurohoops about reaching the Final Four.
“It was definitely a very difficult series. One of the hardest series I’ve ever played. Fener had a difficult season with injuries and ups and downs, which brought them to the eighth seed. It felt more like a punishment for us than a first-eighth fight. We had the will, we found the way, we managed to bring the series to the fifth match and there we all put our little effort into the qualification“, he said about the matchup with Fenerbahce.
The Peace and Friendship Arena was on fire against Fenerbahce, and Papanikolaou acknowledged that.
“We played our game to a very high degree. The crowd’s push helped us a lot too. They gave us great energy, they supported us, and they shouted. They pressured our opponents with their voices and all of that created a nice situation for us. The crowd was awesome, supportive, and had a great turnout“, Oly’s captain added.
Finally, he commented on his personal performance which helped Georgios Bartzokas’ team get the win. “Thankfully it was a good game, but whoever did it, we wouldn’t care. The point is for the team to win and to achieve beautiful situations for the club by winning titles. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy series. We showed character and we succeeded”, Kostas Papanikolaou concluded.