Despite his team’s road victory over Hapoel Jerusalem (79-89) which gave them the 1st place of the Eurocup Group C, Fotis Katsikaris didn’t get overexcited, because he hadn’t forgotten the ugly home defeat by Panellinios, just three days earlier.
‘There is no explanation for this kind of gap in the team’s performance from one game to another. We must become consistent and show some character in every match, if we have some. This victory doesn’t mean anything to me. OK, we played beautiful basketball, but I have been exposed publicly too many times by saying that we are getting on the right track, so this time I won’t say anything like that. Congratulations to the players for the victory, we got the 1st place in the group and that’s all. I might express some skepticism right now, but our shameful defeat last Saturday makes me be cautious for what happens tomorrow”, mr. Katsikaris said.
He also made a special reference to the Aris fans: “They deserve a lot ans we must show some responsibility against them. At some point, we must step up and reward them for being there and for showing so much love to this team, despite all the disappointing results”.
Aris’s head coach wrapped it up with a comment on his team’s next step in the Eurocup: “From now on, things are going to get tough. We’re not the best team in Europe, but we definitely have some potential. All it takes is to get serious, work harder and assume some responsibility”.
Dimos Dikoudis also spoke on the aftermath of his team’s triumph in Jerusalem: “There was some self-criticism that had to be done after our tragic performance last Saturday. That defeat affected us a big deal. We put some energy tonight and we played in a way that was both effective and to our liking. We ran on the fast break, we got some easy shots and in general we showed a good side, which we must maintain, in order to keep it up this way. In the next round of the Eurocup we will be facing some big clubs, which have won European trophies and have very good players. It’s going to be a difficult group, but still open to any result. If we play as we are supposed to, we are capable of fighting for a place in the quarterfinals. Regarding the Hellenic Championships, we must find our way, get better and move on with no more defeats in our tally”.
On the other hand, Hapoel Jerusalem’s head coach Guy Goodes quoted at the Press Conference: “Congratulations to Aris. They had passion and a good tempo since the beginning. Many of their players performed well. We tried to stop the ones who usually are the best in offense, but some other Aris players had very high scoring percentage tonight. I hope that Aris, as well as my team, have the best of luck in the ‘Top 16’ of the Eurocup”.
