By Dionysis Aravantinos / info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens got a massive win in Moscow against CSKA, thanks to an unreal game-winner from Nick Calathes. After the final buzzer, Rick Pitino talked about the final possession, which resulted in Calathes’ amazing bank-shot:
“We were going to drive the ball and kick it, but we changed our plan after [Clyburn] missed the second free-throw. We actually wanted to run a pick and roll, but they left Nick open and I told him: Get open, and then bank the ball from 35 feet.” He then, commented on the luck factor: “We got lucky with that shot, but did all the right things to stay in the game. That’s the key. Luck can be an element, if you do all the right things, you get to that lucky moment. Sometimes everybody just remembers the shot, but they don’t remember what happened before the shot. The key defensive plays that you make. That’s the important thing. That made luck an element in that game; a difficult shot that gets banked in. We are a desperate team and in desperation, when trying to make the playoffs… you need a little bit of luck. Tonight, we got it”.
In addition, he also talked about Panathinaikos’ tremendous improvement over the last couple of weeks: “Our motto is to get better and better every day, to have a PhD. That stands for being passionate, hungry and driven to get better. During the game, and especially in the third quarter, we kept talking about keeping it close and winning it in the final two minutes. We made a lucky shot in the end, but not falling over in the third quarter was a key to winning the game.”
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