MADRID, 22 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Real Madrid basketball coach, Chus Mateo, made it clear this Monday that the Euroleague ‘Playoff’ “is a different story” because all the teams start again “from scratch”, and that the tie that starts this Tuesday against Baskonia, in which they do not want to be “dupe” by focusing only on Markus Howard, will be decided “in small details.”
“We arrived with the desire to face the last stretch of the season and do it well. What started well, we want to finish well, and we know that the ‘Playoff’ is a different story, that we all start from scratch,” said Chus Mateo in statements in a press conference collected on the club’s website.
The Madrid coach believes that their performance so far has earned them “the right to think” that they can reach the ‘Final Four’ in Berlin, but he does not forget either “the toughness of this stretch of the season or that of the rival “Without a doubt, Baskonia is the most difficult that we could face because it is the one we have played,” he warned.
The coach of the current champion assured that they face this match “with desire, energy and optimism” and recalled that, “regardless” of whether the Vitorian team is from the Endesa League, “they are a rival with a lot of scoring.” “The tie will be decided in small details. The moments in which each player is and the mood will influence,” he indicated.
Chus Mateo made it clear that they “only” think about “the first game” and “we will have to be prepared for any situation” at a time that is already very stressful. “We have played 70 games including the one in Dallas. If we leave at the end of the season and if we reach the final of everything, we would play 94. Of course, there is a physical toll on all the teams that play in the Euroleague. We have suffered it, but not You have to make excuses and with the fact of having played the ‘Play-In’ I don’t think they will make them either,” he stressed.
“The past is the past, there is only this Tuesday’s game, or does the previous matter anything, neither for us are the 27 victories, nor for them is recent history,” the Real Madrid coach remarked about the victory at the WiZink Center a few years ago. a few weeks from Dusko Ivanovic’s.
“We are going to try to beat them and we have to abstract ourselves. Of course, we have to keep Howard under control, but we are not going to be so foolish as to focus only on him. We have to focus on the team and be prepared to give one hundred percent and more” , he added regarding the role of the American point guard, key in the last match with 35 points.
Chus Mateo also referred to the role that veterans such as Sergio Llull, Sergio Rodríguez or Rudy Fernández can play, who “can contribute a lot because they have a lot of experience, whether on or off the field.” “The three of them are going to bring us positive things. When we won the Euroleague, if you have to highlight any of them, it would surely be Hezonja, Tavares, Sergio Rodríguez, Causeur, and this year, when we won the Super Cup, Campazzo, Yabusele, Poirier were very good. .. The strength belongs to the entire team and it has to be united. Last year was very hard and this will be the same; it is the most important moment of the season and I have to have everyone,” he demanded.
Finally, he tried to downplay the fact of having the ‘court factor’ because “basketball is something unpredictable and anything can happen.” “We have fought to have it and to play with our fans in our favor. We all know how our fans work in important moments, so I hope for the best WiZink Center, which encourages from start to finish because it always has,” he said.