Ergin Ataman succeeded in the feat of taking Panathinaikos back to the Final Four on his first attempt.
During an interview with Sportal, the Turkish coach talked about several aspects of his stellar European season.
“I said at the beginning of the year that the goal was to reverse the previous standings, going from 17th place to 2nd, and that’s exactly what happened. Now of course we will play the Final Four. We will try to win, but there are three other very good teams, with a lot of experience, built up especially in the last 12 years when Panathinaikos did not participate. Real Madrid became champions last year, Olympiacos has three consecutive Final Fours and was a finalist last year, and Fenerbahce has participated in many editions over the last 10 years. We are hungry, we only have the experience of myself and our captain – Kostas Sloukas -. Of course we will go there to win the semifinal against a very strong team like Fenerbahce, then we will see what happens in the final…..”
On the importance of Kostas Sloukas.
“He knows how to deal with any kind of game, he knows what he has to do during the game to help the team, his teammates, but also to help me . He is very important, I hope he is 100 percent physically. At the end of the day, it’s just one game. You have to be lucky, be on a good day, play well. Mentally he will definitely be ready, as he has been in all the games of his season at Panathinaikos. Given the way he led the team this year, he deserved to be among the 5 of the ideal Euroleague quintet. Sloukas in the Final Four will prove to everyone that he is the best player in Europe.”
The experienced Greek playmaker posted averages of 12.6 points and 5.7 assists per game in Euroleague play during his first season with Panathinaikos.
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