Sakil McKishik: “My home Olympiacos will be fun playing with Partizan”

He will face tomorrow (28/03/03, 21:30, LIVE from Newsit.gr) away from Partizan for the 32nd Euroleague race, looking forward to the match in Belgrade. In an interview with a Serbian Medium, McKishik praised Partizan and her fans, but stressed that Olympiacos is his home and has lived similar atmospheres in many derbys of Greek basketball. McKishik’s statements “If you spend the whole week thinking about the fans and the atmosphere you will face, then you will not play well. Personally, I’m entering this particular game with previous experience. I’ve already played in Belgrade, against Partizan and I know what the stadium will be like. More generally, I’ve played several derbys in Greece, so I know what’s waiting for me and I think it’ll be fun. If you don’t like the atmosphere in Belgrade, then you don’t like basketball. When I was a young man, I dreamed of playing in an atmosphere like Partizan’s. For me it is the best seat in Europe. Of course after ours and Olympiacos fans. People’s mentality is similar and that is something I quite like in Serbia as a country. Excellent stadium in general and good parquet. Combined with them, they have the most powerful fans. An ideal environment for basketball. They have a lot of good players on the perimeter. I wouldn’t want to talk individually about everyone now, but I would stand out for James Nanaly. He’s excellent and it’s probably my responsibility to mark him. Pader is the one who leads the team into the game one against one. He can break the first line of defense quite often and then either attack the basketball or curse a free teammate who is ready to shoot. In addition, they have Jacques LeDay who is the leader of the racket. I say it again, Partizan is a very strong team with numerous options. I believed in myself and one of my goals was to create something here in Europe. When I arrived, I felt the love of fans, coaches and more generally of the team people, which is why I feel like home here. I didn’t know anything when I came. I didn’t know what BCL was, what EuroCup was, I didn’t know anything. As a kid I wanted to be in the NBA, I didn’t know there was a basketball life in Europe. I’m so happy to be here feeling all this. From Italy to Greece where everyone can see me fighting for titles. A terrible journey. I am grateful for everything”