Papagiannis only Panathinaikos's player to join the Greek NT in Turkey / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Hellenic Basketball Federation Credit Hellenic Basketball Federation

Albeit shorthanded, Panathinaikos OPAP Athens captured their seventh EuroLeague win of the season, overcoming Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 79-73 at OAKA.

Player of the Game EFF 25 Nemanja Nedovic Points 25 Accuracy 8-12 Rebounds 1 Assists 5

The Greens had a full list of absentees ahead of this fixture, as guard Stefan Jovic, forwards Okaro White and Ioannis Papapetrou are still recovering from injuries or operation, while Giorgos Papagiannis played with the Greek national team against Turkey in the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall.

The 24-year-old big man made it to OAKA, but he saw the entire PAO-Zvezda game from the bench.

Credit Vangelis Stolis

"It was a special game for us tonight because of some particular conditions," coach Dimitris Priftis said in the post-game presser.

"We have been suffering from injury problems. We made an important decision to allow Papagiannis to play with the national team.

All week long, we had been holding practices with 8 players participating in them, because Avdalas who was today on the squad is injured, so we actually had 9 players available tonight.

I want to congratulate the players because they showed character and this current week was not easy after the Cup final.

The national team is above everything, so it wasn't a risky decision for us to release Papagiannis. It never crossed our mind to keep him here. It was a fully conscious decision".

Priftis revealed that the Greek center will be playing in the reverse fixture against Turkey in Istanbul as well.

"We have a lot of problems, but there's nothing we can do. Avdalas was also injured," he pointed out.

"I have spoken with Greece NT coach Sotiris Manolopoulos and I understand the need, Kaselakis wants to join the national team as well - and that's to his credit. But we can't let him go."

Panathinaikos Athens / Schedule

Panathinaikos Athens Crvena Zvezda Belgrade79-73 Panathinaikos Athens Zalgiris KaunasTue19:00 Panathinaikos Athens AX Armani Exchange Milan03-0419:00

Vasilis Kavvadas had a career night with 17 points (8/10 2PT, 1/1 FT), 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, and 22 PIR.

Asked about whether his reserve big man deserves more chances, Priftis admitted that Kavvadas was "very good and very effective," adding that "in a game, you usually play with a rotation of 8 players and he has been very energetic in all the games he has played so far."

The 30-year-old former Olympiacos Piraeus center commented on his performance on Greek EuroLeague broadcaster NOVASPORTS."I was given the opportunity. I did my best to help my team. It's been a tough week. We are Panathinaikos, which means that we always have to claim what we deserve," Kavvadas initially stated.

Speaking about PAO's place in the standings, the Greek center said that his team could have had "three or four more wins in games we lost by a few points, such as the ones against Baskonia, Bayern and Efes. That's basketball, that's life," he added.

According to Kavvadas, losing the Greek Cup title to Olympiacos in Crete last Sunday brought "disappointment and heartache" among team members.

"With so many games, you don't have time to think about what happened, you have to move on to the next game, the next training session. We should not lose another game in the Greek league and take first place."The former Greek international called Crvena Zvezda "a team that plays hard and has big bodies."

Before the game, Jeremy Evans said that PAO getting demolished by Red Star in Belgrade (48-81) provided players and staff with great motivation ahead of the second faceoff.

"We had a tough night in Belgrade- if you remember that game," Kavvadas underlined.

"They are less talented than other teams, but they are up there every night, playing as they're supposed to."

If Panathinaikos had given up on any playoff hope long ago, Zvezda still had some slim chances, but suffering defeats like the one at OAKA doesn't allow for much optimism to settle in.

Coach Dejan Radonic said his team lacked energy and gave credit to the hosts for the win."Congratulations to Panathinaikos for the victory, they certainly played better than us," the Serbian coach said.

"We didn't have the energy we needed to, nor were we totally focused, especially at the start of the first and second half."

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