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Now, I want 20,000 friends, too!
 Hello to all of you! Here we are, still talking and…playing! Our team arrives to the Quarterfinal Playoffs in the best possible way, since we achieved both our goals in the last round: we reached the playoffs and we took first place in our group. We got that job done by grabbing five victories in six games. Now, we are exactly where we wanted to be. The playoffs are just around the corner, Montepaschi Siena is our next challenge, and we have to get ready for a tough series! It won't be easy.
To tell you the truth it wasn't that easy so far anyway. To play Unicaja in Malaga, or Partizan in front of a record 22,567 fans, is no easy task. I believe, however, that the key for us in the Top 16 was our victory in Spain against Unicaja. We got the win we needed for the standings, but it helped us a lot psychologically, too. After that game, I believe that we played better.
Of course, it's not easy to forget our last road game, in Belgrade against Partizan. It was nice to play in front of more than 22,000 fans. The atmosphere was great. Serbs love basketball and they show it. Even when you play in Hala Pionir, the atmosphere is amazing. They know how to watch a game. Basketball-wise, we didn't perform well, especially on offense, and as a result, we suffered there our first and – fortunately - only defeat in Top 16.
Fortunately, the loss didn't cost us. In the last Top 16 game, we played Unicaja in our place, OAKA, and we got the win - after a strange game. We were up by 22 points, but we had to play overtime. And now, I can reveal something. Partizan's game in Rome had finished earlier and they had lost to Lottomatica, a result that sealed first place in the group for us, no matter what we did against the Spaniards. Still, we fought like crazy to get the win in overtime, and now I can reveal something: we didn't know the result of the game in Italy! Some people on the bench knew that Partizan had lost, but the guys who were playing didn't know about it. We got a little stressed as we lost that 22-point lead, it's true, but we won it after all and were able to laugh afterwards about the "secret" they were keeping from us. But to tell you the truth, even if we had known of Partizan's result, we wouldn't have stopped fighting for the win.
We will do the same in the games to come. Siena is not an easy opponent. The key players are now Terrell McIntyre and Shaun Stonerook and we will have to control the rhythm of the game, because it's a team that likes to run and play in the open court. They also have a big plus: Their home court. Palasports Mens Sana is a tough court to visit. But here comes our advantage: I think that OAKA is a tough court for every visiting opponent, too! We have played in front of 20,000 fans there and I am sure that we will relive that experience twice next week. I am more than sure that the Panathinaikos fans will be present and right beside us. And I am sure that we will register two more "sold-out" games that become part of Panathinaikos history. It's much easier to play with 20,000 fans on your side! With their help from the stands, with their songs pushing us, I believe that we will get the wins we need to make the next big step - to the Final Four!
Take care, enjoy yourselves and we'll stay in touch through www.euroleague.net
POSTED BY
STRATOS PERPEROGLOU - ATHENS, GREECE
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