Panathinaikos coach Zeljko Obradovic feels that the passionate fans that make the OAKA an intimidating place to play will not be a factor tomorrow night when Maccabi Electra visit for game one of the quarter finals.
The legendary playcaller has seen his side and reigning Euroleague champions drop two of the last three games in Athens and says that the famous Greek arena will not phase last year’s beaten finalists.
“I believe that we must understand that playing in OAKA is not an advantage for us. It’s nothing if we don’t concentrate,” he said.
“We have to play how we normally play away this year, because ’till now we haven’t played well in OAKA. It’s time to change this.”
Maccabi center Sofoklis Schortanitis will return to Greece for the first time since he left for the Israeli giants and admits that the loss to Panathinaikos in last year’s final in Barcelona still hurts, and a series win would heal that pain.
“We have bad memories against Panathinaikos and want to take sports revenge from last year’s Euroleague final,” Schortanitis said.
History will be on Panathinaikos’ side though, come Tuesday night. They are 7-2 in home playoff fictures and an unbeaten 5-0 in game one of those series.
Barca look to continue winning streak.
Barcelona will look to continue their good record against Unics Kazan when the two sides meet for game one Tuesday night.
The two sides with the best defences in the Euroleague have played twice already this season, with the 2010 champions winning by a margin of 20.5 points, but head coach Xavi Pascual won’t be taking the Russians lightly.
“I think Unics is a team that plays well, fast or slow, in terms of the team they have and their objectives off winning,” Pascual said.
The other two quarter-final games between CSKA Moscow and Gescrap Bilbao plus Montepaschi Siena against Olympiacos will be played on Wednesday night.
