Not winning the Euroleague has been a hard blow for the two Greek basketball giants. The Panathinaikos, champion of the previous exercise, and the Olympiacos, leader of the regular season, reached the final Four of Abu Dhabi as great favorites, but none exceeded the semifinals. Its huge budgets, its long templates, its brilliant stars … Nothing served on the key day and now, in what remains of course, the pressure is maximum.
As almost always, the two colossi have reached the final of the Greek League and the need to win has multiplied after disappointment in the maximum European competition. In the first game, the Panathinaikos was imposed by 80-68 and there were details that hurt beyond the defeat against the eternal rival, which is to say.
The Angelopoulos, Paniotis and Giorgos brothers, owners of Olympiacos, issued a statement in a very hard tone to serve as an advent to players and coaching staff. “What we saw tonight at Oaka is not the team we have seen throughout the year. It would be good if everyone will appear on Sunday, because we are finishing patience. People will be there again to support us. We demand that the team also appear,” they wrote.
The truth is that the continuity of Giorgios Bartzokas, coach of the rojiblanco team, is very in the air. Before the Final Four, it was already said that, despite having a contract for the next season, it could be dismissed if he did not win the Euroleague. The defeat in the semifinals against Monaco was painful and have not taken to appear the rumors that place Vassilis Spanoulis, his executioner from the Monegasque bench, in the Olympiacos, a club in which he was legend as a player.
The warning of the Angelopoulos brothers has not been the only one that has been from the offices in the final of the Greek League. Before he began, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, the controversial owner of the Panathinaikos, made a speech for his players in them tried to insufflate them character for the duels before the neighbor Olympiacos. “This summer, if we do not win the title, some will be in Mykonos, others in strikes, Santorini or wherever I will be at home because wherever I go, they will complain and insult me,” he said.
And he assured that “this is more important than the Euroleague. If you respect me, if you think I am close to you, if you are in this team for a couple of months or two years, anything other than 3-0 will be unacceptable. They are the best team in Europe, with the best squad and the best coach. We have the best court in Europe and the best hobby. I ask you and I beg you to do it for me! ME.
With speeches like this, the battles of ancient Greece can stay in children's games compared to this final, more tense and with more pressure to win than ever.