By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
The man who refutes everyone. Until last summer Brent Petway’s name was connected with smaller teams of the Greek championship (Ilisiakos and Rethymno), with Harlem Globetrotters and the songs in Greek night clubs playing local music, nicknamed “bouzoukia”.
The 29-year-old was the “Highlight man” in the A1 League, but the fact that he sang during the Greek All Star Game last season and later he did the same in a night club alongside with his favorite singer, Panos Kiamos made everyone think that he couldn’t be a member of the European champs. Although, Petway showed that basketball is business, but more than everything it’s fun.
Giorgos Bartzokas and Olympiacos trusted him and Petway proved in the most crucial games of the season, in the Euroleague’s playoffs against Real Madrid and in the Greek playoff games against Panathinaikos, that he can be a showman both in and out of the court and also effective in every part of the game. His performance in defense switching on Panathinaikos‘ guards,was one of the winning keys for his team.
“I tried to help my teammates giving them some extra possesions in the offense, getting the rebounds. Also, I scored some threes and spend a lot of energy in the defense” said after the big win of Olympiacos in Panathinaikos’ court.
Petway knew everything about the bad tradition that Olympiacos had in OAKA and his quotes on Eurohoops proved that, even if his game is high flying, he remains grounded. “Panathinaikos is a very good team and we knew that they would come back. Hopefully we won the game because we had in our mind what happened in the first final. We composed ourselves to keep the control of the game. It’s great to have our fans behind us and hopefully we will get advantage of this situation and win. But we know that it won’t be an easy game. This is the last chance of Panathnaikos to win the championship and they will fight”.