Kevin Panter spoke to the press after the victory against Olympiakos in the Euroleague.
Partizan is within reach of a place in the playoffs of the Euroleague. He has a record of 17-13, he defeated Olympiakos in a packed Arena and showed that he is ready to do anything to defend his home field and that it doesn’t matter who the opponent is. After all, the fact that the first-placed team of the elite competition was convincingly defeated says it all. This is confirmed by the words Kevin Panther.
The captain of the black and whites stood in front of the journalists after the match and was asked exactly the question that the first-placed team of the Euroleague came to Belgrade as a favorite. “Who says that, who said that the favorites are here?”, Panter stopped the question, and then waited for the end and the sentence that it refers to the fact that they came to the “Arena” as the first place and followed by a question about whether this was a message for the other teams since next week in Serbia they are coming to the capital Barselona i Real Madrid.
“A win like this is always a good way to send a message to the others. I don’t think teams want to play us. We have a lot to prove and show, especially because of the slow start to the season, is much better now. We want to improve for ourselves, for the fans, for everything, we want to play the best basketball.”
He reflected on the match and the events on the floor. “It’s a great feeling, we won the first team in the Euroleague, they played in the final four last year, it was important to win and show that we have character.”
Partizan thus kept the place leading to the quarter-finals and it remained to defend that position. “We gave ourselves a great chance to go further, we haven’t secured it yet, we’re continuing until it’s official. I don’t know where we can be, we still have four matches to go. We will try to be in the best possible position”.
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Who is the favorite against Partizan in the Arena?! Kevin Panter bursts with confidence: Teams don’t want to play us!
This was followed by the question about the standings, that is, whether they are following the results of other teams and whether they are looking to be in the highest possible position. “Yes, we look at the other teams, the results, who we could play with if we are in a certain position. Everything is monitored.”
Željko Obradović’s team is bursting with self-confidence and this can be seen in some moves, such as Dante Exum’s dunk, attack, penetration, good shot for three… “We always believed in ourselves, even when it didn’t work out. We lost matches earlier by one possession, we didn’t lack confidence, we lacked victories. We never lost it, when things went in our favor, we kept working.”
In addition to all that, the Serbian team also set a record for the number of fans, there were 20,003 spectators in the stands. “Such things motivate us, push us, give us extra energy, passion, they love Partizan, us. We have to keep playing, we know he will be with us. They come to enjoy themselves, to have fun and we have to give them a reason to have fun while watching us.”
Finally, he commented on the fans’ spectacular choreography before the match. “I saw a little of that too. “Honestly, I try not to pay too much attention and be fully focused on the match, so I didn’t look at too many details,” Panter concluded.
(WORLD)