Hello to all of you again!

We are not getting ready just to play this time. We are getting ready to fly! Our final destination is o2 World in Berlin and the Euroleague Final Four! It’s our final day in Athens before taking off from Eleftherios Venizelos airport, and the anticipation has reached new heights for me and a lot of my teammates. We were and are looking forward to the Final Four like few things ever. It’s like the final countdown that we were waiting for since beating Siena in Italy will finally start the moment we get on the plane!

Speaking about all the days of anticipation between Siena and now, we have been working really hard every single day. We have done the best we can in order to step on the court prepared in the best possible way basketball-wise, but also both mentally and physically. We know all too well that it will not be easy. Our goal is set, we want the trophy, like any team that reaches the Final Four, but we don’t have any illusions that someone is waiting for us in Berlin to just hand it to us as soon as we land there! That would be nice, but it doesn't work that way.

We want the title, but we know we have to proceed step by step. The semifinal has its own special point of reference, since two Greek teams will fight for one place in the Euroleague final. The duel between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos is the talk of the town here in Athens, something...

So now, we are leaving for Berlin. The Final Four is here! The excitement in Barcelona is clear, and for us, the players and coaches, the preparations are most important. This week, we are preparing for the semifinal against CSKA of course, but I can say that in general, I think our team is ready. We are in good physical and psychological shape. In practice, you can see in the team that readiness that you want to see. As players, we are showing aggressiveness, and also showing that we want to do all the little things right. These are good signs to see before we go. Of course, we are a little nervous, too, but that's just because we want to get started already!

Let's talk about CSKA. Of course, they are the reigning champions. They have a team that is very experienced and has been to a lot of Final Fours. This is maybe the biggest strength for CSKA. They are also a team with good coaching and good experience, both of which are always helpful to have in a tournament like the Final Four. I guess we could be bothering our teammate, David Andersen a lot more, asking questions about CSKA, because he won two titles with them, including last year's. But we're not giving him too many questions, honestly. We want to concentrate on what's happening this year with CSKA. He can always help us with some basic things that CSKA's coaches use and don't change year to year, whatever they do consistently over the years. But...

To get ready for the Final Four, we played a couple of friendly games last week with Efes Pilsen. One was behind closed doors on Thursday and another open to the public on Friday. It helped a lot, especially for a couple players who haven't played much in the previous weeks. You have to remember that we finished out playoff series on March 31 and had only a couple Russian League playoff games after that. So, some of us hadn't been on the court most of April, but especially Terence Morris, who never plays in the Russian League. The playoff games in Russia weren't that difficult, so our coaches thought the friendlies were a good thing to do for everyone in order to have some Euroleague-type competition going into the Final Four. We played good, even though we were trying to work on a couple things specifically for Barcelona and had to run those things to help us get ready. Of course, it was also important to get ready from a mental standpoint with a more competitive opponent against whom we needed to push ourselves closer to a Final Four level of play. Overall, it was a good level of play in both games, certainly so for exhibition games, and I think it helped us get ready for whatever comes our way now.

I know that I am a rookie, but I have to be ready, too. Coach Messina in the last practice was very clear that I might play if something comes up, and if so, I just want to make sure I help the team in any way possible. I bring...