David Blatt hailed Matt Walsh’s performance, as well as the great team effort and the spirit shown by injured players Dikoudis and Kakiouzis, after his team won Panionios 95-78. Quotes at the Press Conference:
David Blatt (Aris coach): “In the first half I didn’t feel that we had control of the game. At halftime we said a few things, we made a few adjustments and came out with the kind of energy we should have every time. Dikoudis and Kakiouzis were both injured and hadn’t trained in the last days, but they played anyway. It was very admirable and very Aris of them! Clark was great in the second half, pushing ball in the fast-break and scoring when needed. Also, Walsh had an all-around game tonight. Such players make the difference in European basketball. Overall, we played as a team. However, we mustn’t congratulate ourselves too much, because we’ve got a long way to go. We’re not going to shoot like that every night, but all the rest in the game we can repeat it like tonight. Winning by more than 15 points in the Greek League is like winning by more than 30 in most places. The Greek League is a little more physical than the Italian, because the referees let the physical game and also the passion of the fans makes it even more difficult”.
Matt Walsh (Aris player): “It was a great team game for us. We were great in attack and we picked up in the second half in defense. We managed to keep the momentum from the big win against Joventut Badalona and this is a sign of a big team. Now we’ll have to think about the next tough game, in Le Mans.
My good stats and my performance tonight is the result of playing along with very good players. I gave a lot of assists because my teammates made the shots, so they should take the credit. Also, the steals I made were result of the team effort in defense and of the traps we tried to set both in the wings and in the post”.
Nenad Markovic (Panionios coach): “Aris has got an excellent momentum, which helps them have a lot of self-confidence and shoot great. We tried to slow them down a little bit and not let them run. In the first half we succeeded in a way and the game didn’t get out of our hands. However, in the second half we collapsed defensively. We couldn’t control Walsh and Richardson and we didn’t commit fouls when we should. When you play here and the game is getting a high score, in the end you lose by 20.
In Europe there aren’t many players like Walsh, who is not just scoring in every way possible, but also helps in defense. Little by little, Aris is starting to play the kind of basketball that will lead him to the 3rd place and to the Euroleague, which is an important thing for this club. I wish them the best of luck in the Eurocup”.
Haralambos Giannopoulos (Panionios player): “Congratulations to Aris for their victory. We tried to fight for the best, but we weren’t focused and couldn’t stick to our coach’s instructions. I hope that next time we will be more concentrated and have a better result”.
