Panathinaikos head coach Zeljko Obradovic
"I believe no team in Euroleague wants to play the third place game, but that is our reality. We must play our best because of the respect for the competition and because of our fans. It is incredible how many of them came to Istanbul to support us even in these difficult times in Greece. So we must find the energy to play a good game. I talked to Xavi Pascual and I am sure Barcelona will try to play their best too. Our job is to motivate the players and whatever we do is going to reflect on the players. They also need to find the motivation and the energy, but probably some of them will play who normally don't play that many minutes."
Panathinaikos forward Steven Smith
"We are playing for pride. We have to do our best. Winning the championship was our goal, but there can be only one champion. Besides, this game is a great preview for the big week we have coming up in the Greek finals. Barcelona is a great quality of opponent with Euroleague talent. They have great tradition. This is my first Euroleague season, so I don’t know that much about all their players, but I know they are a great team and I’m sure our coaching staff will have us prepared."
Panathinaikos guard Nick Calathes "It is another game and of course, we are ready to play and try to get better. We face a very good team and it is going to be tough. Maybe it won't be a tough as yesterday, but we have to move on. They will be highly motivated because of their playoffs loss last year, but so will we. We will be ready to go and looking forward to facing them. Hopefully we will win, we are scouting tonight; they gave great players like Navarro, Mickeal and Vazquez. We have to stop their big guys, they are very athletic inside. I think that rebounding the ball will be the key for sure."
Panathinaikos center Aleks Maric
"Every game is important for us and every game we go into wanting to win. Obviously it’s more important to win at least one game than no game. So that’s the aim for tomorrow. We just need to be concentrated, that’s the biggest key. Both teams are coming off losses so we need to stay focused on the task ahead of us. We need to look at the mistakes we made, the carelessness that we had and improve on it."
FC Barcelona Regal guard Xavi Rabaseda "It would be great to finally get to play in the Final Four. I didn't have the chance to do it yesterday and maybe our loss last night increases the chances for me to play in the third place game, but whether I play or not is not the most important thing right now. We have very important games coming up, the Spanish League playoffs, and of course it would be very important for us to win tomorrow and start a winning streak until the end of the season. Panathinaikos has proved to be at the highest level for many years. None of the teams is used to playing a game like this. We have to find the motivation to finish third in the Euroleague, which of course is not a bad result at all."
FC Barcelona Regal center Fran Vazquez
"We want to finish third in the Euroleague, which is a lot. Of course, we would love to play the final, but we have to move on, play this game and return to the Spanish League. We are motivated to play against Panathinaikos. They knocked us out in the playoffs last season, denying us the chance to play the Final Four in our city. We really want to play against them and start looking forward. We have to play the way we know we can and I believe this game will help us a lot in the near future. We have to play hard defense and be patient in offense, like we usually do."
FC Barcelona Regal forward C.J. Wallace
"We had two main goals at the start of the season: To win the Euroleague and the Liga Endesa. One is gone, but it is still important to move on, win and get ready for the Spanish playoffs. We’re very motivated and want to show that what happened last night was an aberration. And it is important to see how the team reacts after losing. I have watched Panathinaikos all season on TV. They are the defending champs and they have a great team."
FC Barcelona Regal guard Marcelinho Huertas
"Having a good game is really important for us as a team. We have to control the pick-and-roll situation. They play 40 minutes of straight pick-and-roll. They have great players at reading the pick-and-roll situations. They’re a very smart and intelligent team with a great coach and it’s going to be a very tough game. It’s going to be tough mentally and we have to really remain focused on what we’re supposed to do."