By Rigas Dardalis/ dardalis@eurohoops.net
The quotes of Acie Law in his infamous interview about Diamantidis – “I don’t believe he is among the top, he is protected by the referees” – and Panathinaikos – “If we played in Euroleague, we would beat them by 20” – were not made in order to be published.
Still, everyone knows about them and the player himself before Olympiacos‘ practice wanted to set things straight. He spoke with respect about Diamantidis, but he didn’t back up from his opinion: “First of all I have a lot of respect for Diamantidis and what he has accomplished. You can’t deny that. As for the question about Spanoulis and Diamantidis, I felt like Spanoulis is a better player. I didn’t mean for that to get out and get into the public in a negative light. I wasn’t trying to create this situation, I was just casually talking. That’s my opinion. I still respect what Diamantidis has accomplished as a player, three Euroleagues, a lot of national titles, you can’t deny his career and his success, but my personal opinion for my short time being here in the last two years (is that Spanoulis is better). I have seen them both play and compete against each other and that’s my opinion”.
Same is the situation towards Panathinaikos: “I respect Panathinaikos, I don’t want to create this situation. I have respect our opponents, but I have the utmost confidence on our team. We can beat them in the Greek league and of course in Euroleague. We have won the last two Euroleagues and I feel that we can beat them”.