By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos coach Rick Pitino tipped his hat off to Olympiacos for the win over his team in EuroLeague’s Greek derby while specifically commending Reds’ Shaq McKissic for his game-high 22-point performance.
“I thought Olympiacos was terrific. I thought the pickup of McKissic, if I’m saying his name right, was one of the best pickups I’ve seen in the EuroLeague,” Pitino said in the post-game presser. “That was a great pickup. He played unbelievable at Maccabi and he played unbelievable tonight. So congratulations to Olympiacos, they played a terrific game.”
“They’re playing great right now because they picked up a 2-guard who’s sensational,” Pitino added. “We beat them in our place and we played awful basketball. Awful. We played well tonight – we didn’t shoot the ball well from the 3-point line – but they played well. This was a great basketball game.”
Pitino saw his players struggling immensely to make a 3-pointer. Panathinaikos finished with 1/20 triples while Olympiacos completed the match with a solid 9/21.
“It was a great basketball game and obviously we don’t like losing, but I’ve been coaching a long time and we had a great chance of winning this game which never happens when you’re 27 to 3 from the three-point line,” Pitino said. “That’s so unusual.”
“When it was 67-67 we had total momentum, but with no time on the clock, they banked a three and that was probably the turning point. A desperation three that really hurt us,” Pitino mentioned; a comment on a “Hail Mary” 3-pointer by Kostas Papanikolaou. “But I’m proud of our guys’ effort.”