Oded Katash meets Maccabi Tel Aviv

Every time Oded Katash meets Maccabi Tel Aviv, especially in Greece, there is interest. The most memorable game is the European Champions Cup final in 2000 in Thessaloniki, when Katash defeated Panathinaikos the team he grew up on that “happiest and saddest day of his career”, as he Himself defined.

Many balls have been thrown into the basket in the last 20 years, Katsh has managed to beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 17 times as coach, and tonight (Thursday, 21:00) he meets the Yellows for the first time as coach of Panathinaikos. On the plane that brought Maccabi to Greece were also members of Katsch and his assistant Lior Lubin, who met for the first time in two months, since the signing in Pao.

After a rather mediocre start at Panathinaikos, Katsch won the most important game of the season, the derby against Olympiacos in the Euroleague (77:88), in which his team showed great ability, including a club record in free throws (25 of 25), season records for players and other impressive statistics .

But just then, after Pao had beaten 72:91 earlier in the game against Valencia struggling to make it to the Euroleague playoffs, the Greens wreaked havoc on Corona during which seven players and three other team members contracted the virus – and activity was halted for two weeks. When the team returned to play, all the momentum stopped – and for the home game against Maccabi Tel Aviv, the Greeks came up with a streak of three losses in the factory.

The story of the corona illustrates exactly the problems that Katsch had to deal with from the moment he got the coveted job in Greece two months ago. Already upon his arrival, he was injured by two key players, Yannis Papatero and Yorgos Papianis, and recently Nemanja Nadovic, who shelled 39 points on the head of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the first round, was injured and will be out for about a month.

“There has not been a single time since Katsch came to Panathinaikos that she was on a full squad,” says Greek journalist Alexandros Trigas of the sport24 website. “That’s how hard it really is to build something new.”

And yet, even with all of Pao’s problems, one can notice the significant change that the Israeli coach is trying to produce compared to his predecessor in office, Yorgos Vobras. The big difference is in the pace of the game, with Katsch advocating a much faster game. At the same time, also following the injuries, but probably also in light of the understanding of the player material he has in hand, Katsch plays in high and big formations. For example, Papapatro (2.06 m) moved to the guard position, Aron White (2.06) played about three, after spending most of his career in position number four, and Costas Mitoglou (2.10) moved from chin position to position number four.

The three are considered energetic players, who fit the fast and new style of the Greeks. “Katsch’s decision is surprising on the one hand, but proved itself in the derby against Olympiacos in which Panathinaikos completely dominated the rebound (26:39), and also as a view for the rest of the season,” adds Trigas.

Personally Katsch enjoys the job very much, although the experience around is less pleasant when he can not take advantage of its beauty and the attractions offered by the Greek capital due to the corona condition in the country. In recent days Greece is experiencing its worst period with many deaths from the virus.

The situation is so bad that Greece has been in quarantine for two months, more or less from the moment Katsch arrived. Restaurants, bars and cafes are closed from November, and residents are not allowed to leave the houses from 21:00 to 5:00 in the middle of the week and from 19:00 to 7:00 on weekends. In light of Pau’s busy schedule, Katsch hardly saw his family. He returned to Israel and met her for a very short time when he returned to Israel for the team window of the Eurobasket qualifiers in February. The family is finally expected to join him in the coming days. With his assistants and especially Lubin, the Israeli assistant is the most dominant in the professional team, and the only one who is active and gets up from the bench to advise the coach.

The Greek media respects Katsch, and does not criticize him even though in general in terms of results there is no such great improvement. Journalists understand the problematic situation in which Pao and Katsch find themselves. Everything can change if the team starts to lose in the local league as well, which has only happened once in Katsch’s time so far. For the fans, there was great joy when Katsch was appointed to the position, mainly due to his great history with the club as a player. The fans love and appreciate the coach, and there is not too much criticism of him.

Recently Panathinaikos made a huge and very surprising signing for her – Mario the prostitute, who is known as a fan of the team. The role model of the Croatian guard / forward in his youth was the legend of Pau, Dimitris Diamantidis, today the general manager of the team, if he had played a big part in the arrival of the prostitute.

The Croatian, who was selected fifth in the 2015 draft by Orlando, played five seasons in the NBA, but was far from impressive with an average of 6.9 points in 18.5 minutes (330 games). The Greek fans went insane from his signing and 400 of them frequented Athens airport despite the corona – and provided him with a crazy welcome.

Meanwhile, Zonia has managed to play in two Euroleague games against the former Barcelona and against Bayern, in both Panathinaikos lost, but he recorded a good number of 21 points in 29 minutes against the Catalans and 14 against the Bavarians. The expectation is that as soon as Sandovich returns, the prostitute and he will constitute deadly offensive weapons. In the Euroleague it should no longer help the Greens who lost a chance to qualify for the playoffs, but in the league and cup it is likely to be a tie-breaker.

In the end, Katsch’s future at Panathinaikos will depend entirely on his winning titles in the local arenas. If he records a double (league and cup), it is clear to everyone that he will continue, in case he does not take the championship, or God forbid the two titles, his situation at Panathinaikos will be unclear, when it is doubtful whether he will continue to receive credit.