By Alex Molina / info@eurohoops.net
After a hard-fought battle on one of Europe’s toughest courts, Pedro Martínez expressed his satisfaction with his team’s performance and resilience.
Valencia‘s coach highlighted both the difficulty of facing Panathinaikos and the importance of securing such a prestigious road victory.
After all, Valencia is currently tied in the second spot of the standings with Panathinaikos, Monaco, Crvena Zvezda, and Barcelona having a 9-5 record, while Hapoel Tel Aviv is alone at the top with 10-4.
“We were ready for a very tough game, Panathinaikos is one of the best teams of the competition, great players with big experience”, said the Spanish coach. “The first half was not bad, but we thought that we could play better. In the third quarter, we played great, with great rhythm, controlling the rebound and passing the ball. We are happy because to win here against this team is great news for us”.
Despite gaining momentum after the break, Martínez acknowledged that his team stumbled shortly before halftime, allowing the hosts to narrow the gap.
“We had a bad end of the second quarter, but the first half was good. Maybe the difference was too big… Our start of the second half was good, and I think that they were tired for a momen,t and we had an excellent second half”.