By Alex Molina / amolina@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos defeated PAOK (69–74) in Pylaia and improved to 13–1 in the Stoiximan GBL, but the victory was anything but easy.
Despite having a +21 lead at halftime (22–43), Panathinaikos was five points behind in the 31st minute (60–55) and again in the 33rd (62–57), before the final score was decided.
Ergin Ataman voiced his complaints once again, especially about certain players, whom he refused to name.
“I’m satisfied that we found a way to come back from -5 thanks to the contribution of specific players. I don’t know what to say about some others. I won’t mention names, but everybody saw. We missed Kendrick Nunn and we had trouble in our offensive systems, and I hope he returns. We are in trouble, only with Sloukas as creator. We are in trouble”.
Asked about how will he fix this issue right before an Euroleague double week, he was crystal clear.
“I can’t find the solution, the players must find the solution. There are some players that give us nothing; they have to contribute to the team. If not, some will die if they play 30 minutes” said the 60-year-old Turkish coach of Panathinaikos on ERT television.
Later at the press conference room, Atman doubled down on his message. “We didn’t have contribution by some players that damaged the system one more time. Without three players, Nunn, Mitoglou and Rogkavopoulos, we had a problem with other players that came from the bench who damaged the system and risked to lose the game”