Comfortable as underdogs

June 19, 2013

Welcome Back to all the Turkish Airlines Euroleague and basketball fans around the world. Once again, I am Kyle Hines, forward/center for Olympiacos , writing you from beautiful Athens, Greece. After impatiently waiting for the past 30 days, it is finally………FINAL FOUR TIME!!!!!!! After all the hard and long practices and tough games that have followed us throughout this Euroleague season, it is finally time for my teammates and I travel to Istanbul, Turkey to compete for the Euroleague title.

When I last wrote on this blog, we had defeated Montepaschi Siena in the Euroleague playoffs to clinch a trip to the Euroleague Final Four. Since then we had almost one month to prepare to go to Istanbul. The first step in our team's preparation for the Final Four was the Greek League playoffs. We played both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of those playoffs. Even though we were clearly the favorites in both of those series, we wanted to use those games to help us to become better prepared for our matchup against Barcelona in the semifinal of the Final Four.

Barcelona has been the top team throughout this Euroleague season. They have one of the most experienced groups in all of the Euroleague and their core players have been together for many years. They have one of the best players in Euroleague, Juan Carlos Navarro, and a very strong and deep frontcourt. Coming into the game, they will be considered the favorites by many people, but to our team that doesn't mean anything. We are comfortable playing the role of underdogs and we all know that anything is possible one game.

In Athens, we weren't the only people counting down the days until the start of the Final Four. All the Olympiacos fans are maybe more excited than us. It seems like every day in Athens, no matter where I go, I meet fans who are excited to tell me how much they are looking forward to the games in Istanbul. Judging from the fans' excitement here, it should be a great atmosphere at all the games. Just like us, the fans have been waiting for the opportunity to see our team compete for a Euroleague title.

Now finally, the time is here. This is what we all have been waiting for since the beginning of the season………The Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four…………….As I said in my last blog, my teammates and I are looking to make this trip to Istanbul a memorable experience. As long as we continue with the same energy and effort we have shown all season, I'm confident that we will accomplish our Euroleague goals. See you all in Istanbul!!!!!!!

POSTED BY

Kyle Hines - Piraeus, Greece

DATE:

Tuesday, May 08, 2012