Ergin Ataman and Panathinaikos escaped from Belgrade with a big win over Crvena Zvezda (77-81), with the Greens getting booed by the Serbian fans throughout the entire game. However, the Turkish head coach wasn’t bothered by that and even said that it added extra motivation to the seven-time EuroLeague champions.
“No problem. It’s happened in some other courts, too. Except some single words, I didn’t hear any bad things. The fans do their job. Of course, I’m the winning coach over the last 4-5 years. They like to go against me. I get more motivation, focus, and concentration in that atmosphere. So, thank you for that,” Ergin Ataman said afterwards, via Basketnews.com.
On a similar occassion, Mathias Lessort got booed by Crvena Zvezda fans during the halftime interview, with the French big man staring down the fans in attendance.
Despite trailing by as many as 14 points in the game (44-30), Panathinaikos came back and turned things around, improving their record to 5-2, just one win behind league leaders Zalgiris Kaunas (6-1). Next week, they will host rivals Olympiacos (4-3) in the Greek Clasico.
