Lefteris Mantzoukas: 'Papapetrou is helping me on and off the court' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Vangelis Stolis Credit Vangelis Stolis

Lefteris Mantzoukas's performance was the only good thing to come out of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens's 83-95 home loss to Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv.

Player of the Game EFF 23 Derrick Williams Points 17 Accuracy 6-12 Rebounds 6 Assists 3

The Greek forward broke four personal records against the Israelis. He finished the game with 11 points, surpassing the 5 he had against Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade, while he distributed 3 assists, overtaking his previous career-high against ALBA Berlin (1).

Mantzoukas registered 8 points in Performace Index Rating and made 3-of-3 three-pointers, going 4/4 from the field.

After the game, the 18-year-old forward talked about his performance, pointing out that Panathinaikos is a huge club and that it's an honor for him to wear the green jersey.

"We had a lot of absences, but we fought. We made many mistakes on defense," Mantzoukas told Greek broadcaster NOVASPORTS.

Referring to his individual numbers, he said that it's a result of hard work.

"Every day, I try to improve. We have some guys with experience. Panathinaikos is a club with a huge history, and even now, it's a huge club with a big dynamic. It's great to wear the green jersey," he added.

"I personally don't rank myself. I want to be on the court, that's where I feel comfortable," Mantzoukas said.

I want to add some more post moves, be more athletic. There are essentially two positions - facing the basket and playing with the back to it. I want to improve everything in my game."

Ioannis Papapetrou has had a big influence on young Mantzoukas as the team's captain.

"He is a guy with tremendous experience. He helps me with my attitude on and off the court. He shows me what I have to do, even when I make a mistake."

Mantzoukas thinks that putting a label on himself won't make him any better as a player.

Panathinaikos Athens / Schedule

UNIKS Kazan Panathinaikos AthensThu16:00 Panathinaikos Athens Maccabi Tel Aviv83-95 Panathinaikos Athens Real MadridThu18:00

"I don't label myself. It will only make you anxious. I do feel some anxiety when I wear this jersey, but I also feel honor and pride," he concluded.

Credit Vangelis Stolis

Coach Dimitris Priftis didn't explain why he left Mantzoukas on the court when the Greek forward made his 4th foul, but he did talk about his player's output.

"It's very positive. He has made the best of the playing time given to him. Today he played well, but his numbers must be accompanied by victories. If we can say something positive about tonight, it's his performance," the Greek coach said at the beginning of his post-game comments.

"Maccabi played a good game. We had the lead in the first quarter, but we lost touch with the score in the second one and conceded a lot of points in that period. Our problem was defensive. We have to sort out our problems. The players tried, but that wasn't enough," Priftis said about the game.

Credit Vangelis Stolis

A few hours before tip-off, forward Okaro White had to be brought to the hospital as he was experiencing a high fever.

"It obviously affected us, especially since it happened two hours before the game", Priftis conceded.

"There is no need to say more, in two days, we have another difficult game against Real Madrid," he sighed.

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