"If the owners of the two teams do not appear by noon tomorrow, this year's championship will not be completed," government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said in an interview with ANT1 TV on Tuesday. He added that the government has decided to "make itself unpleasant" even at political cost, and to take a risk, pointing out that "some of the things we say are neither very easy nor is it self-evident that they will happen but we are judged on this."
"We do not want to be yet another 'spectator government' to the deep-seated problems that, unfortunately, we have been seeing for many years in various forms in our country," he added.
Marinakis underlined: "We love basketball in Greece much more than in other countries. It has made us proud. These two teams have brought the European Championship 10 times in the last 30 years to the country."
The government spokesperson had announced on Monday that the third game in the championship's 'best-of-five' finals series, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, has been postponed following the events that took place on Sunday at the Peace and Friendship Stadium during the second game in the finals series of the Greek Basketball League, between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos.