By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Diamantidis was the clutch player for Panathinaikos in the second and third game against Barcelona, but without James Gist, the Greens would be definitely in worse situation.
The American forward was injured in the second game in Barcelona and the medical news about his… foot was in the headlines for a lot days. At the end, he played and everybody realized that there was nothing to stop James Gist of being such crucial as in the first two games of the series against Barcelona.
“I feel fine. I get a lot of treatment every day and I hope to be better on Thursday” explained on Eurohoops.net few minutes after one more dominating performance. Argiris Pedoulakis was worried before the third game cause of Gist’s injury mentioning how important role he has. “I try not to focus on the injury. Everybody had small injuries during the season but you have to play sometimes taking pills. Before the third game I realized that it was one of those nights. I had to play against the pain also” says the American forward who left Unicaja few days before Christmas to join Panthinaikos and now is only one win away the final four.
He feels vindicated but he is absolutely focused on the fourth game in OAKA: “The third game was tough and it was just the same as those in Barcelona. The fourth one will be the toughest game of the season. Don’t forget that the last three were decided by a shot. Barcelona is a great team and they have their backs against the wall and on Thursday they have their last chance to go back to Barcelona for the fifth game and they will fight. But also we have the chance to get one more win to qualify and we’ll try to get this chance now”.
Panathinaikos has celebrated two wins in three close games. So does that mean the “Greens” have more clutch players than Barcelona? “I wouldn’t say that. I would say that we made our shots and we are now in better situation. They have great scorers and talent in offense. We have just fortune that we are in the position we are now. Don’t get Barcelona wrong. They have players they can make it in the last minute. We have to control it and to have better shots, but I believe that the winner of the game will be who will want it more”.
Do you think that Panathinaikos is in perfect shape in the most crucial moment of the season? ”We play a solid basketball but we can get better. We have a lot of games in front of us in the Euroleague and the Greek league and we can improve ourselves”.