Andrea Trinchieri appeared particularly pleased with his players’ attitude and passion following PAOK’s victory over Panathinaikos, though he did not let the result go to his head.

The Italian coach reminded everyone that it’s still September and that the season is a long one, while emphasizing rebounds, ball movement, and, above all, his team’s response after making mistakes.

Here’s what he said in detail: “It’s

September, so we have a long way to go. It was the first official game, and against one of the best teams in Europe, no less. I’m obviously happy with the result, because a win is a win, and I’ll take it. You should never be picky about a win.

We outrebounded them, had more assists, and played with great energy and passion. We made some very serious mistakes in the final minutes, and that’s an area I need to address so we can improve.

We could have won earlier and more easily. We made things hard on ourselves, but we never lost our faith or our passion. That’s why we came away with the win. And in less than 24 hours, we’ll face Athens’ other big team.”

Regarding what the victory over Panathinaikos means and looking ahead to the match against Olympiacos, he emphasized:

“We’ll take the win. It’s just another game. We’ll play tomorrow, and I don’t know how much energy we’ll have. I believe Olympiacos used up one-tenth of our energy.

As a coach, I always look at the big picture. It’s a very sweet victory for the fans, and I’m happy for my players, but I know there are many things I need to do and many areas where I need to help them improve.

I’m extremely pleased with the mindset we had. Because, as I always tell my players, the most important thing—the thing that makes all the difference—is the 30 seconds after you screw up! The first 30 seconds after you do something stupid are crucial for us.

We made two very serious mistakes on defense. I think we played good defense on Francisco for 39 minutes and 30 seconds. I know him very well—he’s very talented—and we just gave him six points like that.

But the fact that we were able to grab the offensive rebound on the last possession, make the extra pass, and hit the buzzer-beater—that has nothing to do with basketball. It’s purely a matter of nerve and passion. And that’s what gives me tremendous motivation to push them even harder.”

Trinchieri also referred to the two teams’ previous game in the “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” tournament:

“The game at the “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” taught us what level we need to play at to be able to compete with them. You have to be tough, you have to win the battle for rebounds, and you have to take care of the ball. Those are things we did well today.

From the start, I felt that my team was mentally in the game. We could have won by a bigger margin, because we missed at least 12 completely open shots. Of course, this also has to do with the fact that Panathinaikos is a very strong and aggressive team.

Even when we were down by five points, I felt like we were still in the game. I didn’t feel like I had to do anything special. I just had to push them to keep doing what we were doing.

Basketball is a game of mistakes. Just because you win doesn’t mean you don’t make mistakes. We knew what we had to do. Sometimes we were able to do it, sometimes we weren’t, because we were up against a very good team with a very, very good coach. Mentally, though, I felt that my team was doing the right things.”

Finally, when asked about PAOK’s victories against EuroLeague teams and whether they send a “message,” he was clear:

“I’m not the type of person who sends messages. I’m a privileged person. I have the great privilege of coaching my team. I go to work every day. I know how much love we receive from our fans, but my mind is already on the shootaround and tomorrow’s game against Olympiacos, which will be extremely important.

I can’t look any further ahead. I have to take it one step at a time. That’s it.”

*photo source: PAOK BC / PAOK Basketball Club