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 Panathinaikos forward Stratos Perperoglou
“This is the biggest game of my career, for sure. This is my first time in the finals and I’m really excited for the game. The semifinal was incredible. I’m satisfied that we won and now we have to focus on our next target. We don’t have much time to prepare. We just have to be ready mentally, watch video and try to do our best on the court. CSKA is a tough an experienced team. They have been here seven times in a row, which says a lot and we have to be really focused tomorrow. Like every other guy on the team, I have my role and that’s to do whatever the coach says on the court. I expect a physical game. We have to be ready for that.”
 Panathinaikos forward Antonis Fotsis
“I’m very excited to be in the final again. I hope my team will play good and try for the victory tomorrow because we have a very difficult game against a very difficult team. I hope it’s going to be a good match. In general I know that [CSKA] is a very good team. They have many good players and it is going to be tough for us tomorrow. It will be a tough game. A lot of loose balls that everybody will try to get to win the game. My role is always to help the team. It doesn’t matter what I do, just to do some things to help my team. Either scoring, rebounding, whatever is good at that specific minute. We have to play tough, give 100% and not let this chance get away.”
 Panathinaikos guard Nikos Hatzivrettas
"It is a nice feeling to be back in the Euroleague final. We worked hard yesterday, won a tough game and have to face another big one against CSKA, a very good team, of course. We will try our best to bring the trophy back home. I played a Final Four with CSKA in 2003 and beat them in the 2007 Euroleague final in Athens. CSKA is always in the Final Four in the last seven years, which is a great accomplishment. We try to win the Euroleague title every season, it is a great competition. It all goes down to one game now, after playing so many of them during the season to reach the final.
 Panathinaikos guard Drew Nicholas
"I try to take things as they come. Thankfully, I progressed very quickly in my first couple of years in Europe and I am very, very happy to be here at this point because everybody would like to be in my shoes right now - playing for a top team in Europe, getting the chance to play 15, 20, 25 minutes a night and competing for the Euroleague title. I try to take it day by day to become a better player. We have to play 40 minutes of good basketball to beat CSKA. It is a very physical team and we have to protect our glass in terms of rebounding, try to control guys like Siskauskas or Langdon, but they have so many different guys that can hurt you in so many different ways. Everybody has to be concentrated. It is going to be a team effort and you have to fight."
 Panathinaikos center Nikola Pekovic
"I feel good, but we are all thinking about how to prepare the game and play against CSKA. It is an excellent team, so we will have to follow our game plan to beat them tomorrow. I am not thinking about how they will play against me. We are focused on the game and how they will try to defend everybody. Panathinaikos is not only one guy, and at every moment you have five players on the court that can score. If I don't score, somebody else will."
 Panathinaikos guard Dusan Kecman
"It is a great opportunity for us. First of all, I have to say that it is exciting to have to chance to win my first Euroleague title. Everybody will be very motivated and anyone that steps on court will give more than 100%. Panathinaikos - CSKA is becoming the big game in European basketball. Small details will decide the winner. Winning the Euroleague title would the biggest trophy in my career." |
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 CSKA Moscow guard Nikos Zisis
"It is very important for me to play this final. Not many players get to play a Euroleague final and that is a goal I already accomplished. Being in a second Euroleague final is very big for me. We know we face a very big challenge. We face a very experienced team, with a great coach and players that already won the Euroleague. We expect a great final. I think this is a game in which anything can happen. The hungrier team and the one that sticks to its game plan will win it. Playing against a Greek team in a Euroleague final is a weird feeling. It is already weird to play against a Greek team in a regular season game, so imagine in a Euroleague final. I will try to give my best to help the team. I am professional and adjusted to the team here in CSKA. I already won the Euroleague and winning it all again would be a blessing."
 CSKA Moscow center Sasha Kaun
CSKA Moscow center Sasha Kaun “It’s the championship game. A big game to play for. I’m definitely looking forward to it. I think it’s just like any other game. You have to stay focused on the game and carry out your assignments, do what you need to do. Panathinaikos is a great team, a great pick-and-roll team with great bigs. Two of the best teams are going to meet tomorrow, that’s for sure. We have to contain their pick-and-roll and not let them score any easy points on penetration or pick-and-roll. Try to make them earn their points. I’m just going to try and help us, whatever happens. If coach feels that he needs to put me in, I’ll be more than happy.” CSKA Moscow guard Nikos Zisis "It is very important for me to play this final. Not many players get to play a Euroleague final and that is a goal I already accomplished. Being in a second Euroleague final is very big for me. We know we face a very big challenge. We face a very experienced team, with a great coach and players that already won the Euroleague. We expect a great final. I think this is a game in which anything can happen. The hungrier team and the one that sticks to its game plan will win it. Playing against a Greek team in a Euroleague final is a weird feeling. It is already weird to play against a Greek team in a regular season game, so imagine in a Euroleague final. I will try to give my best to help the team. I am professional and adjusted to the team here in CSKA. I already won the Euroleague and winning it all again would be a blessing."
 CSKA Moscow guard Zoran Planinic
“Panathinaikos won that time [in 2007] playing in Athens, so I think they had a big advantage. Now it’s a neutral court, so I think the chances are 50/50. I think whoever plays better defense will decide the game. We play tough defense. Always we play patient. Every game somebody else decides the game. That’s how we play the whole season. You feel the pressure. It’s a big game. You feel the pressure. We try to watch movies, listen to music, everybody is different.”
 CSKA Moscow forward Siskauskas
"I hope the whole team plays well tomorrow, because this is what we have to do if we want to beat Panathinaikos tomorrow. Of course, I won the Euroleague title with Panathinaikos against CSKA two years ago, but this is a different situation for me now. We are all professionals, I am in a another club trying to win a game. I have friends in their roster, of course, nothing changes, just a club. Panathinaikos has many good players, we cannot focus on just one of them. It is an excellent team, it will be tough to beat them, but we will see."
 CSKA Moscow center Terrence Morris
“I think it [helps] a little bit that I played in the final, because last year the team that I played on took a quarter off, took the third quarter off. We didn’t make any shots, didn’t play any defense, which kind of put us in a hole. Now I know from experience that I can’t – not as a personal player but as a team player – we can’t take time off. There are always top teams out there that play consistent. That’s what we didn’t do last year. This year my role is a come off the bench and see what we need type of thing. If we need scoring, I’ll come in and score. Most of the time, most important is defensive rebounds. [Panathinaikos] has some really good individual players. We know that they have some guys that can post the ball up. Can cause matchup trouble and put us in foul trouble and they also have some guards that are pretty aggressive on the screen-and-roll. There’s two things that we have to stop, their screen-and-rolls and our post defense inside to see if we can help eachother. There needs to be a lot of weak side help.” |
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