Here's what Ergin Ataman said in detail at the press conference:
"In the first half, we played great basketball, perhaps our best this season at OAKA. We were aggressive, we scored in transition, James only made two difficult shots. We didn't let them score much. In the second half, sometimes we made mistakes, but we had good defense, good rotation.
Tonight, Shorts had one of his best games for Panathinaikos, and I hope he continues this way in the playoffs. Farid fought on both defense and offense, everyone played for the team, and that's important.
We got scoring from different players and not from the usual ones. We won and we are in the playoffs. We will play against Valencia.
Players' minutes depend on their performance and their form. Nunn, Grant, Sloukas, Shorts, they can't all play together. Whoever is in good form will play more.
Valencia beat us twice this year; they are one of the top teams so far, but now it's time for the playoffs, and I hope we face them with a full roster.
There isn't a big home-court advantage; everyone can beat everyone, home or away. It will be a tough series for us, Valencia is a difficult opponent, but I believe it won't be easy for them to beat us to qualify for the Final Four either. I believe everyone will give their 100% to get through this series.
Valencia plays a different and so far successful brand of basketball. Now we will try to stop their fast-paced game; we need to be aggressive on both defensive and offensive rebounds.
Now we understand their game, and we will try to play with our system. When there are two different systems, the one that dominates will win. We'll see, we'll see.
It's not my choice to play against Valencia. They are a great team, with a great coach. I congratulate him on the award he received; he deserved it 100%. They have great players, especially Montero. They are a great team. We will see two different systems.
I am optimistic; I cannot say now that Valencia is the favorite because they beat us twice in the regular season. We also have great players; this year, my performance is not better than Martinez's, but now, we'll see…».