By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The defending Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion, Panathinaikos Aktor, is ready to take on Olympiacos in a derby with huge implications for the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings.
After team practice in Peace and Friendship Stadium on Thursday, head coach Ergin Ataman and Spanish forward Juancho Hernangomez previewed the headliner of Round 29 of the 2024-25 EuroLeague Regular Season, to be played in the same venue on Friday evening.
“I love to come here and steal the win away from the fans,” mentioned 29-year-old Hernangomez after working with his teammates in SEF.
Before the next continental edition of the Greek derby of eternal enemies, the Greens rank third in the EuroLeague standings with an 18-10 W-L tally. The first-placed Reds ate three games away at 21-7, with six games left in the double-legged round-robin schedule of the Regular Season.
“It’s not important for us to be first, second, third, or fourth. We just want to win here tomorrow,” Ataman downplayed the battle for the highest possible seeding on the playoff bracket versus a win against the rival, “We have the confidence and we want to show that we can play a good game, here in this court, in Piraeus, against the first team in the EuroLeague.”
“It’s going to be tough. They are playing really, really good basketball. They got extremely good players. But we came here to get the win,” added Hernangomez.
Marius Grigonis (back surgery), Mathias Lessort (leg surgery), and Omer Yurtseven (leg) will stay on the injury list, but the remaining players are available for Ataman.