The tension is rising

February 09, 2012

We are all looking forward to Friday now. Everybody is thinking of us as the home team, I know. And of course, that helps on the court, at the same time that we have a lot of distractions off the court. But from Wednesday on, we will be in the Final Four team hotel, so we will be kind of protected from everything going on. I am lucky to not have so many distractions as other guys, because I don't understand Greek so well yet and so I can't read what is being said in the newspapers. I can make myself very stupid and avoid some of the distractions here. But you can feel what's happening around you. You can feel tension rising. Everybody is looking for extra tickets. Even fans stop you on the street asking for tickets. So I am looking forward, actually, to going to the hotel as a team on Wednesday. In the hotel, we can be in a normal rhythm like any other Euroleague road game for us. I am glad about that.

Of course, this will be the first time we play against Tau this season. My point of view is that in the semifinals, I prefer to play a team we did not play this season and only have watched on TV or whatever. I have seen some of their games and have been really impressed by them. All five players on the court always play at a big rhythm. With that image of them in my mind, but without playing them yet, I know that I will prepare much more cautiously, not knowing exactly what to expect. If we had played against a team and beat them by 20 or something in the regular season, maybe I would be thinking we could win easily. That's not the case now, because Tau is so good, but also because we didn't play them already. There is no reference. I prefer it that way.

The truth is we have big respect for Tau. That's a big team with a long roster. Nobody at this moment is thinking about the loss last year that Panathinaikos had at home against Tau, especially not me because I wasn't even there, but not the guys on our team who were, either. Maybe it's more of a thing that the press and the fans talk about than the players and the staff. We can't concern ourselves with last year. We want to win this year in the semifinal. That is the only thing that is important to us. So I repeat, I have respect for this team as surely one of the best in Europe. It will be very interesting to play against them.

Of course, I played against Tau before myself, when I was with other teams, so I know what some of their players are like. To tell you the truth, I personally think that video helps a lot, helps you to see a lot of things you wouldn't see otherwise, but the game on Friday will be much more than what you can prepare on video. That's when everything comes out that you can't see on video: the will to win, the desire, the personal qualities that make a difference in such a big game. They all pop out at that moment. Video tells you a lot about tactics, but only on the court in these special moments can you see those other qualities that are so important.

POSTED BY

Sani Becirovic - Athens, Greece

DATE:

Wednesday, May 02, 2007