EXCHANGE OF OPINIONS:

Rimas Kurtinaitis, BC Khimki head coach:

— PAOK is a good team, we had some trouble on the road last week but Rashad Wright didn’t play. As well as Andriuskevicius, a center. Now it’s a new stage, the second circle and we feel great responsibility before this very game. In Greece we coped with Giddens – he is a key player for PAOK. We have to play aggressively, because we are the home team. Moreover Khimki is the leader of the group and we must prove it by our game.

Egor Vyaltsev, BC Khimki guard:

— It will be a return game and we prepared for it very seriously. PAOK is a very good squad with experienced players, especially Goree, Giddens and Dikoudis. So it will be a hard duel but we believe in our strength and hopefully Khimki will win. It was difficult for us to play in Greece because PAOK was supported by its fans.

P.A.O.K. THESSALONIKI B.C. GREECE

Founded: 1926
Team colors: Black and White
President: Branislav Prelevic
Arena: P.A.O.K. Sports Arena (built in 2000, capacity – 8500 seats)
Official website: http://www.paokbc.gr/

CLUB’S HISTORY

P.A.O.K. Thessaloniki B.C. is the professional basketball department of the Greek multi-sports club P.A.O.K., originally founded in 1926 and is based in Thessaloniki, Greece. The basketball section of PAOK was created in 1928 when Alekos Alexiadis, a young member of the administration council, took the initiative to create a basketball team. The first honor for PAOK was the win of the 1959 Greek League. The worst season of the club to date was in 1977 when PAOK avoided relegation with a 66-53 play-out win over Democritus.

In 1994 PAOK returned to European success by winning the Korac Cup two-leg final against Pallacanestro Trieste, winning both at home and away by 9 points. The following year PAOK won the Greek Cup in a 19 point victory against Panionios 72-53. In 1999 PAOK again won the Greek Cup by defeating AEK Athens 71-54.

Moreover PAOK is the first European team for Khimki’s forward Matt Nielsen. The Australian came to Europe to play for PAOK in the 2004-05 season, averaging 13.9 points per game in 14 Eurocup matches. Among other individual stories, Marcus Goree and Zoran Planinic faced-off in the Euroleague semifinal in Madrid, playing for CSKA and TAU Vitoria, respectively, won by CSKA.

HOME COURT

The new home of PAOK, the PAOK Sports Arena, able to hold 8500 fans, was inaugurated on 17 March 2000. The same year it hosted the Euroleague and Greek Cup final-fours.

SEASON 2011/2012

In Greek League PAOK now ranks seventh with 3 wins and 4 losses. On Saturday, December 3, PAOK suddenly lost on the road to Peristeri — 63-73. In Euroup the club played three games (1-2): a vivid victory was made over Cholet Basket and two losses by VER Riga and BC Khimki.

Eurocup:

November 15

VEF Riga — PAOK — 80-74 (23-23, 22-21, 20-13, 15-17)
PAOK: Giddens (17 + 6 rebounds), Goree (16 + 5 rebounds), Dikoudis (12 + 5 rebounds), Wright (11 + 5 rebounds).

November 22
PAOK — Cholet Basket — 74-62 (18-15, 18-18, 20-13, 18-16)
PAOK: Giddens (22 + 12 rebounds), Goree (19 + 6 rebounds), Dikoudis (11 + 8 rebounds), Wright (10).

November 29
PAOK – BC Khimki – 62-71 (13-11, 17-31, 20-17, 12-12)
PAOK: Kalampokis (18), Goree (11), Giddens (10)
BC Khimki: Loncar (20), Quinn (19), Monya (10)


ROSTER

American guard J.R.Giddens proved to be Eurocup week 2 MVP. He, with an index rating performance of 32, scored 22 points including 3 of 3 from the arc, pulled 12 rebounds and had 2 steals for the best individual winning performance of the week. His teammate Marcus Goree is too close to him.

№	Player	Position	Height	Birthday	Nationality
4	J.R. Giddens	G	196	1985	USA
5	Dante Stiggers	G	187	1982	USA
6	Dimitris Arapis	F	203	1990	Greece
8	Marcus Goree	F	203	1977	USA
9	Dimos Dikoudis	F	206	1977	Greece
10	Ioannis Kalampokis	G	195	1978	Greece
11	Martynas Andriuskevicius	C	217	1986	Lithuania
12	Rashad Wright	G	188	1982	USA
13	Michail Giannakidis	G	192	1988	Greece
14	Nikos Kalles	C	211	1987	Greece
16	Dimitrios Kalampakas	F	202	1989	Greece
17	Michail Liapis	G	188	1995	Greece
18	Thomas Amparas	G	185	1994	USA
19	Efthymios Tsakaleris	C	207	1989	Greece

Head coach: Anastasios Markopoulos (Greece)