Blogs

Truly unique: we'll always have Berlin!

Thu, 07 May 2009 13:57:21 GMT

Hello to all of you again! Still here, still writing… Not playing, though! At least not in the Euroleague! The biggest goal, the biggest dream became a reality for me in Berlin. We achieved our goal, we made a dream come true by getting the title. As Mr. Freddy Mercury sang a few years ago: "We are the Champions!"

I cannot even get close to describing the feelings. What I felt, what all of us felt is simply something that you cannot express in words. An unbelievable feeling! Unique! Truly unique! The "picture" I still have vividly in my mind is the entire bench entering the court as soon as the horn sounded putting an end to the final, with everybody falling into each other's arms, the wide smiles on our faces, the people chanting louder than ever. I think it's a "snapshot" that I will always carry in my mind and heart.

A few seconds earlier, we were all watching the ball being released from Siska's hands. Thank God it didn't go through the net. It was a relief and, at the same time, the signal to start celebrating. It was a shot that could have been accurate and we are simply and honestly happy that it wasn't. I believe we played better in Berlin. It's true, the win was sealed almost at the buzzer in both of our games, but it's also true that we controlled both through their biggest parts.

Another given fact is that we had not only one or two, but many players to step up in crucial moments. Vassilis got the MVP award, because he did a fine job in both games, either getting big shots or organizing the game. I was also happy for him for another reason, because he was my room-mate throughout the year! A lot of people are asking about the points I scored late in the final. It was the coach's decision to get me the ball in the low post, since I had a shorter guy to guard me. I tried to do the best possible. In the beginning my effort didn't pay back, but I am just happy that I helped my team a little bit to achieve its goal. This is what every player in this team has in his mind: How to help the team.

But still, Panathinaikos is not one or two or even three players. Everybody can step up. Panathinaikos is a team and the team won this Euroleague trophy. And of course Panathinaikos is the coaching staff. At o2 World, we were waiting in the bus for the team to gather, in order to leave for the hotel. Obradovic came in last. We all began to chant his name in the Latin rhythm well known by our fans throughout Europe. It was a small recognition, from us to him, for all the work and effort he has put in all year and the trust he had in us during the bad periods and the bad moments. Especially then! The fans followed the bus to the hotel celebrating. As I came to understand later, it was just the beginning. As soon as we landed in Athens, we were informed that Panathinaikos fans were waiting for us. More than 2,000 of them surrounded the bus and followed us to OAKA, blowing horns, singing, calling our names and chanting rhymes.

I think that we haven't realized 100-percent yet what we did. Personally I am sure I haven't realized it! It's a work in process. I am getting closer to realizing it with every person that comes to congratulate us for the trophy. They stop us in the streets and they tell us how happy we made them; maybe almost as happy as I felt at the buzzer, maybe as joyful as the "snapshot" in my mind with the...

New heights of anticipation!

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:53:22 GMT

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 special in sports and not only in Greece. We know it too and both teams are preparing in the best possible way. We have played three times already this season and we know each other very well. One thing is for sure: This is a game in the biggest spotlight imaginable. We want to be ready for it. Our fans want the same. They stop us in the streets, asking us to get to the final, to bring the title back in "green" hands!

The level of this Final Four is very high. The other semifinal is expected to be another big game; CSKA Moscow against Barcelona. Different teams, but still a great duel. CSKA is coming back for its seventh straight Final Four, Barcelona demonstrated that is a tough team this year, and we know it very well, since they beat us twice. CSKA has Nikos Zisis on its roster, our fellow Greek player, so we will root for him a little! It's positive that we have another Greek presence through him in this Final Four, but if we both get to the title game, we will try to make him unhappy in the end.

We want to go as far as we can, for us, for our club, for our effort throughout the season, and for our fans. We know that a lot of them will be in Berlin. We couldn't be happier for that, and we want to have them next to us, shouting, chanting, singing - all the things that show what great fans are like. Anything negative is not welcome, in my opinion. The Final Four is a festival of basketball like no other, and should be treated that way by everyone who is privileged enough to be there!

Before leaving you, I must inform you that the Final Four "rookies" on our team have kept their word. We took the whole team out to dinner - on us! It was another great night out, friends among friends! Now we want to do our best as rookies to help our team win the trophy. All of us, rookies or not, must turn words into action on the court. Everything we’ve been talking about since Siena we now have to demonstrate on the court! It’s the only way...

Getting in the Final Four rhythm!

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:50:01 GMT

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 the roster itself has changed, and perhaps CSKA's style has too. But I think we all know already what their best quality is: their defense.

I mentioned biorhythms in another blog, and since someone asked what I meant, I want to explain. By biorhythms, I mean that we make sure to pay attention and do the same things in the couple days before every game. The players and coaching staff organize the same things always the same way before we have to play. It is done so that we feel comfortable with what we are used to, and we don't have to think. In that way, it puts us in a good biorhythm. We are always eating at that hour, resting at another and practicing the same times. In that way, we never have problems adjusting. It has been this way all season long, and I think it's good for us, considering that we have done well. I think that more or less all teams try to do similar things to stay in a rhythm, but here at Barcelona, I have noticed it even more. There are a lot of details that are planned to help you concentrate and not distract you with any stuff other than the game, what you have to do on the court. All other things are set for you.

So far, we have been as strict as possible with that rhythm, but maybe at the Final Four, with everything going on around it, we have to be more careful about it. We talked the other day about concentration only for the game. This is the big thing. As players, we cannot allow the hype of the Final Four, which is fine for the press and the fans, to get into our rhythm. That is how you break the rhythm. We have to still treat this as just another game: Come to town, rest, prepare to play, and leave everything else to the side until we get on the court. That's very important for us to do, not to get overwhelmed with all the other stuff going on. And here is where the advantage of being to the Final Four previously comes in: You know what to expect and are capable of controlling the situation...

Ready for the call

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:18:01 GMT

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 size, if it's needed, but I also want to do the little things. I won't be put in to score points, I know, so it's a matter of getting rebounds, making defensive plays and just doing the groundwork to help my team with if they need me. Barcelona has a lot of big guys on their team, and you never know what can happen. I am making sure to do everything right in practice so that when the game comes, if I am called on, I'll know what's going on and be ready.

From a confidence standpoint, I think that in the last month or more, I've been playing a little better and starting to understand everything better. In the beginning, there was so much new information, that I had to slow down to assimilate everything that's new and different for a rookie. I am still learning a lot, but at this point, I have a little more understanding on the court and I think that my game level has come up with that understanding. I can now do what I do best on the court without having to think so much about the things our coach wants me to do that were new to me. How we play different screens, for example. So I can now have more confidence going out and playing than I had going out and thinking before.

Barcelona's frontcourt is interesting because their big men can do a lot of different things. Just watching tape, you see they do different things depending on which big men are on the floor. They get good post play from Santiago, who dunks a lot down low, more dunks from Vazquez, who also plays screen-and-roll, the same as Ilyasova, while David Andersen can go from the five-spot all the way out to the three-point line. The power forwards can pass well from the top of the key, too. The other thing is they have a variety of great, quick guards who adjust to the big men and play off their strengths. So they have a lot of options, which makes it hard to play against them. They don't play one way. It depends on who they have on the floor.

A year ago, as I have...