Kavala’s fast-breaks and last-second shots in the first half proved very important in the outcome of the game, David Blatt said after his team’s away defeat (86-81). The Press Conference:  

David Blatt (Aris coach):“Congratulations to the coach and the players of Kavala. They did a very good game, which was necessary for them to beat us, because we came here to play hard. In the fist half they got a difference thanks to the many points they scored on the fast-break and also thank to the shots scored in the last second of their attacks. If you see the statistics, we had more rebounds and less turnovers than Kavala, so the only way they could beat us was through their scoring percentage, which was it. In the middle of 3rd period we had the chance to turn the game around, but we missed a couple of open shots, they took the rebounds and then they built the difference once more”.

Jeremy Richardson (Aris player): “We had a big fight, but we let them run on the fast-break too many times and that hurt us. The game was equally important to us as it was to them.We wanted to win this, because we are trying to prepare for the playoffs and get better each time”.

Vaggelis Alexandris (Kavala coach): “We focused on the kind of defense that Aris plays, we really wanted the victory and we scored some crucial shots, which proved to be very important. This last week was one of the worst in my career. I lost my temper and had a quarrel with Kyritsis, which is a thing that doesn’t reflect to my personality and my behavior in the course of all these years. I want to apologize publicly for that incident”.

Nikos Aggelopoulos (Kavala player): “We are very happy for this victory, which is the most valuable of all. We had passion and fought to win from the very beginning. Nothing is over yet, we are going to fight until the very end”.