- How much I love them! I simply adore them! I didn’t experience that celebration after winning the title with them at Kalemegdan, but if God is willing I will this year. I shouldn’t even say this out loud, in order not to jinx something. They create a brutally good atmosphere. The cel- ebration after winning a title with them would be the peak of my career. Despite being an ace of global calibre, Antić reveals that the key to success is in modesty. - I never had a lot of desire. My only desire, and also my greatest desire, was to play in the NBA. And I achieved that. I didn’t think much about the EuroLeague, about proving myself in it, so I just happened to be a champion of Europe three times. And now, when I look back, I never think about those titles, and those are the greatest successes that can be achieved in club basketball. I’ll think about them when I retire. Belgrade will host the culmination of the EuroLeague this May. - It will be a spectacle to be remembered. Belgrade has a fantastic hall in which Europe’s best teams will compete. I’m sure people will come to watch top basketball. This powerful centre who played“across the pond”says that basket- ball in Europe and America have nothing in common. - Heaven and earth. This is the Balkans, you all know everything we hear from the terraces. When it’s going well and when it’s not. People are temperamental. In the NBA everything is more relaxed, and everything is tailored to the players. Everything is in the service of the basketball play- ers, for them to be satisfied. They take care to ensure you’re not acciden- tally missing a hair from your head. My hair grew longer there,” laughs Pero, touching his cleanshaven scalp with his hand. He adds that from the jigsaw puzzle he has put together to date he can’t pick a puzzle that would mark the club where he enjoyed him- self the most, but he knows which cities he would always return to: Ath- ens and Atlanta. - I love water. Sea, river, lake, everything is an option. My apartment in Athens was 50 metres from the sea. It was enough for me just to go out on the balcony and calm myself. Just to watch the blue and forget about the clock. Atlanta is a specific story. There actors, rappers and public fig- ures gather. It’s a perversion of a city. I go there every summer, except last one, when I had responsibilities regarding the children. Great city! At the mention of children, Antić’s eyes started to shine. This favour- ite of the Delije has three sons. - The happiest moments of my life are related to their births. They all come to watch me except the youngest. He wouldn’t be able to stay calm for a full game; he’d want to go on the court. The middle one thinks the court is mine. Whenever I say to him, “Calm down, you can’t go there?” he asks, “Why daddy? Isn’t it yours?” The eldest is, let’s say, gentleman- ly; he sits, look cultured, watches the game a bit, then his phone a bit. Although their father is a three-time champion of Europe, he’s not their favourite basketball player. - They adore Bogdan Bogdanović! The youngest always goes around shouting“Bogdanović!”They’re crazy for him! Bogdanović and Antić were teammates at Turkish club Fenerbahçe, and last season won the EuroLeague together. And while Pero is a sworn Red Star fan, Bogdan is a passionate Partizan fan. Apart from basket- ball, Antić has three other passions – tattoos, cars and mobile phones. When he’s not on the court or in the gym at training, you can encoun- ter this giant at some of the capital’s restaurants. - I like restaurants and kafana inns. But not discotheques. I like to sit down with selected company, we talk a little, we sing a little, we laugh a lot. I also have a favourite song. Sinan Sakić sings it, and it’s called‘Da se opet rodim’ (To be born again). I also like to smash a glass. Blissful. He points out that if he were to be born again, he wouldn’t change a thing. - No way, everything would be the same. Željko Obradović said to me:“How you live, so you will die”. And I always hold to the notion that if something hurts you, change it immediately, and if not, then do it twice as much! That’s my motto.
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