Vassilis Spanoulis for the three point in front of Dimitris Diamantidis: “One of the most important of my career”

He commented on the three-point buzzer beater that he scored in front of the finale of his huge career “3D” – with which Olympiacos won the title in the Basket League, in 2016. In an interview he gave to “basketnews.com”, Vassilis Spanoulis told him that his winning three pointer in front of Dimitris Diamantidis – the 4th final of the Basketball League in 2016 – inside the Panathinaikos headquarters, was one of the most important shots of his career! Also, the coach of National basketball and Peristeri commented on George Printezis’ winning basket with CSKA in 2012 , which gave Olympiacos the title of Euroleague, the “Spanoulis” system, and the comment Steph Cary had made in a play. What Vassilis Spanoulis said: For the winning three point in front of Dimitris Diamantidis in the 4th final in 2016 who gave the championship to Olympiacos: “I had forgotten that… This is one of the most important buzzer-beater I noted in my career. I have missed a lot of shots like this, but when you believe, you have the courage and you train every day in such shots, moments like this will come where you win a championship with a shot.” About whether Diamantidis complained to him sometime about this shot: “No. Initially, he generally played great defense. His hand is near me, he tried to cut off the shot. Dimitris is one of the top defenders in history, has huge hands, went to cut the shot. The important thing is that I usually did side step right. At that moment I thought they were expecting it and I told myself to go left because they weren’t expecting it, so I did that. I was thinking before I took the shot that I had to do something different to create a distance. For me, the most important ability of a scorer is to be able to create a distance to shoot, so I tried to do this by going contrary to other times. That’s why I created a good distance, while Gist didn’t come to make a trap, where someone else would take the shot and I saw the opportunity.” About what makes a side step perfect: “The perfect side step is to do it quickly, so you have half a second to get distance, so you can see the basket clearly”. For Printezis’ winning basket in the Euroleague final with CSKA in 2012: “Nice memories. Before Siskauskas’ last shot, I told Papanikolaou to quickly give me the ball to go to the attack. My first choice is always to shoot or go to the basket and then read and react, not decide what to do before. At first, then, I rejected the screen, which I often did in my career, because we wanted a two-pointer, not a three-pointer. I went hard towards the basket, but I saw Kirilenko there and Printezy ready for his favorite shot. I passed by instinct because I trust all my teammates and so I found the right player in the right place, so I made the right decision.” As to whether it is true that he deliberately went over Kirilenko at this stage – which was on the strong side – knowing that the Russian was a good defensive weak side, to force him to help and pass: “No, I didn’t have time to read this, I don’t want to lie and act smart. I went to pick up Picken Roll at first, so I could get the Krschitz switch. But I instinctively made this move to get Svend out of balance, then I saw Kirilenko where he was always there, and I found George. Fortunately at this stage Teodosic did not come forward to win an offensive foul or close me down. But I’d still pass Mantzaris to put the shot on. I’ve always been aggressive in such situations, I’ve had the confidence and courage to make these decisions. The important thing for me was to make the right decision, not the last shot. That would be selfish. I wanted to make the best decision for my team to win. It’s always about winning.” For a system of Peristeri from last season, which led to Hammer’s stabbing : “In this action 5 gives make pick and roll and at the same time the district opens the field. Then we play Pick and Roll, but no offense. Then the shooter turns curl and if he is not free, then 5 rolls and scores—because many teams change to screens. The difference makes the timing on the screen. This basketball is the most important thing. Many times you have to teach special conditions to players to see what the rival coach might think. I say that after time-out coaches decide to make blitz or changes.” About whether he teaches training systems or thinks about them in the games: “I think of many plays we put after every time out. I never decide what to do, I don’t have any paper. I’ve got a lot on my mind coming up at the time. Sometimes I stop training to teach players, while other times I explain to players something at the time-out, where I explain to players what to do.” About the fact that Steph Cary had commented on Spanoulis’ play, giving address instructions : “I saw the comment. It is a huge compliment that Steph Cary saw this play when it comes to Peristeri and not Real, Barcelona, Olympiacos or Panathinaikos, a team that is not known in the USA. It’s a compliment to the organization and me. Some plays work once and others that there’s movement of the ball, which work different. These plays are for after time-out. But you can run the same play another time by changing something, to surprise the opposing defense.” For the semi-final with Team USA at the 2006 World Championships, where he was the first scorer in Greece’s triumph: “I had huge motivation because I had already signed to the Rockets. I wanted to leave my mark and make everyone realize I was going to the NBA to play an important role and not just get there. As a team we had a great game and it may be the most important victory in our history. All the players played with pride. We had an incredible team for 4-5 years. We sacrificed a lot, put down our ego, enjoyed going, losing our summers, vacations to be together and play for our country, for our honor, for the next players to come. That is what we must do again.” How he was preparing for the big games: “I always thought of the next phase. I should never have been disappointed if something was wrong and I wasn’t thrilled when something was fine. I gave 110% at each stage, my heart and wanted to be exhausted after every game because I gave it all, seeing after what happened.” For the “Spanoulis” system that reached the NBA and who was the first coach to build this system: “Dusan Ivkovic. We were playing this system with Coach Douda. It was an incredible system and I ran it often because I felt comfortable. The most important thing is to sleep the opponent and not show him that you will get the first screen from 4. So I teach my players never to show their opponent where to go, rather than to sleep the opponent and then go in the opposite direction. The first thought in this system is to go out and shoot immediately (ed. when he gets the ball), because many players just took the ball and played Pick and Roll. But you never get the ball to play Pick and Roll right away. First you have to see the shot and if you’re not comfortable or the defense is good, then you play Pick and Roll. The first thought of each player is to look at the basket. I always say that position 4 in this system is important, because it had to give me good screening to gain advantage. The reason is that this screen will give me room for the handoff afterwards. The second point is that handoff must be done near the three-pointer. If it’s 8-9 meters the five, it needs to make sure it goes towards the three-pointer, so I’m ready to shoot, because from 8-9 meters we’re going straight to Pick and Roll and it’s another system.” About when he first heard that this system was named after him: “I have heard that many NBA teams, such as the Jazz and the Nuggets, play this system. I hear many NBA players are trying to play this system. This is unbelievable. That’s over titles. The love of the world, of children, to remember you knowing that they have a system that exists around the world is above titles to me. This is my legacy. I am proud because only I know how much I have worked to perfect this system and other things in my game.”