Dimitris Yanakopoulos was in his element at the match between Maccabi and Panathinaikos.
We haven’t seen a playoff series like this in a long time Euroleague! It got serious in the duel Panathinaikos and Maccabiah where it is currently 1:1 in the series. Of course he also contributed to that Dimitris Yanakopoulos, who was very active beside the field in the second match. Panathinaikos basketball players beat Maccabi 95:79 (20:28, 31:11, 20:21, 24:19)and Yanakopoulos, dissatisfied with the refereeing in the first match, spent the entire match putting pressure on the referees.
Right after the first match, Panathinaikos coach Ergin Ataman, first in a statement in the mix zone, and then in a press conference, fired at the referees, and we saw that after that Panathinaikos issued a long and very stormy statement. And then Dimitris Yanakopoulos decided to take matters into his own hands.
We saw him with a cigar next to the field at the start of the match, and throughout the game he was jumping on certain decisions of the referee. At one point during the match, he had a phone call, but that didn’t stop him from violently reacting to the first, in his opinion, questionable decision. Watch the moment:
The problems in this game did not end there, so after the match in the OAKE tunnel, a conflict broke out between the former center of Crvena zvezda and Partizan. Matthias Lessor and someone from the ranks of the Maccabi. We saw a video of the verbal argument, and they even had to hold the Frenchman. While this was happening, Ergin Ataman attacked the Euroleague once again.
“It is strange to me that one of the biggest organizations, the Euroleague, which I have always protected, expresses such views against me, that I have damaged the image of the Euroleague. I find it very strange. If I did something wrong – OK. If I did something wrong, like the story about the referees, there is a rulebook that you punish me by. But why do you make such statements about me? Why are you provoking people against me? What happened? When I went to the locker room, someone from the Maccabi locker room told me, ‘You’ll see in Israel, you’ll see what the Zionists will do to you.’ I didn’t see who it was, he didn’t have accreditation. I am Ergin Ataman, I am the coach of Panathinaikos, I am the selector of the Turkish national team and a Turkish citizen. You can’t do anything to me”said Ataman.
