By Michael Gkioulenoglou/ info@eurohoops.net
A long season, full of outside whispers about his role, was countered by Grant Golden pushing AEK Betsson into the Final Four of the Basketball Champions League.
Following a lopsided win and delivering an efficient performance against Nanterre 92 in a packed Sunel Arena, the 27-year-old center opened up to Eurohoops about overcoming adversity during the 2024-25 journey.
“I don’t really listen to stuff like that. I know the player I am. I know why the coach brought me in,” stressed Golden, “Our coach in university, he used to say, ‘For the amount of people that don’t like you, there are twice as many more people that do like you and appreciate you’. So, I go out there and play for the people that I know appreciate me being here.”
“I play for the jersey every single night. And that’s what this team has done all year. We haven’t worried about what people thought of us, ‘Too small, a player is too weak, too soft’, whatever it may be. We believe in each other and that’s all that matters,” added the former Richmond standout, “We showed that all year.”
In addition to clinching a berth in the season-ending tournament, the Queen also secured hosting rights to the Final Four. After previously hosting a BCL championship-crowning tournament in 2018 and 2020, the venue moves from OAKA to Sunel Arena.
“I know it’s going to be exciting. It has been super awesome to have these fans out here, sold out like this. I know the Final Four is going to be even crazier,” he told Eurohoops, “We definitely had that on our minds and definitely wanted to make sure that we brought the Final Four back to Athens.”
Defeating Nanterre in a deciding Game 3 on Wednesday, the team guided by Dragan Sakota, the mastermind of the BCL championship run in 2018, set up a clash with defending champion Unicaja on May 9. The Semifinals also feature a meeting between La Laguna Tenerife and Galatasaray. The Final and third-place game will follow on May 11.
“Every game, pretty much for the last month, it feels like, it has been the biggest game for us. Every single one has been more important each time. This is just another example of that,” Golden described the exciting path to the Final Four, “This team has been resilient all year. Every single time we’ve backed into a corner, we answered the bell.”
“We’ve come a long way from the beginning of the season. And it was really nice to get a win like that in front of all those people, because I felt like we deserved it,” he continued, “I am glad we went out there and had a showing like that.”
In a best-of-three series opposite Nanterre, AEK went from a 1-0 lead to a losing effort in France, before getting the job done at home. In Game 3, Golden put in 19 points with 9/10 two-pointers, six rebounds, three assists, and one block over 24 minutes.
“We sort of felt like we got off to a slow start in the first game, and we were able to battle back. But in the second game, we felt like we went out there and did pretty much what our game plan was, and we had a bad stretch in the second quarter, but overall, it was a lack of execution on our part. Obviously, they are a very good team and they battle, but we didn’t change too much,” he said about the series, “We knew what we wanted to do tonight and we were able to just go out there and execute it better on our home floor.”
Switching to the domestic league before focusing on a championship bid at the continental level, the next challenge is against PAOK mateco in Sunel Arena on Sunday. Wrapping up a best-of-three series with a back-to-back do-or-die Game 3 for AEK, the winner will advance to the Semifinals of the Stoiximan GBL Playoffs.