BARCELONA, Jan. 22 (SportsFinding) –
Barça coach Svetislav Pesic said on Wednesday that they hope to win the Red Star, this Thursday at Palau Blaugrana on the 21st day of the Euroleague, although he highlighted the good moment in the form of the rival, who has won seven of his last eleven games and practicing a “total basketball” that reminds him of his first stage at Barça.
“The Red Star plays another basketball now, complete, like the one we played in my first stage here when we won the Euroleague. They have courage, they have options to have more possessions and play a total basketball, like us in my first stage, when we had more ball and more transition and counterattack, so surely you have more points, “he said at a press conference.
And it is that Pesic separates the Red Star that started the competition it is now, with the change of coach and the arrival of Dragan Sakota to the team. “Now we play with a Red Star that has a new coach, and of the last eleven games they have won seven. The team has improved completely,” he said.
“I want to say that outside the home the Red Star has more quality, and they control the pace of the game very well, and doing without defense is not possible. They try to keep the ball in their hands, and they do it very well, excellent. They have options of getting into the 'Play-offs' and we expect a team that plays total basketball, “he said.
Anyway, trust winning. “We have to win some games, we had a very hard schedule against level rivals such as Maccabi, Efes or Fenerbahçe,” he said about the bad run of results – with three consecutive losses – that broke on the last day against the Turks. “Luck has it who works, we work hard but we have no luck,” he lamented.
On the other hand, he celebrated the return to training with the group of Thomas Heurtel, injured since last summer with his team and who has not debuted this season. “Thomas trained for the first time with the group, with contact. He is very well, there was no negative reaction and everything was positive, normal,” he said.
“We will go little by little, it depends on how your physique develops because one thing is to train without a team and another with a team. If there are no problems, we hope that little by little you start playing but I can not say anything, I do not know. It is important. give him minutes of play, but we have to be calm. He has enthusiasm, is fresh and wants to play, but it is a situation to control, “he added.
For his part, the guard Kyle Kuric said they want to link two wins in key games, like this one and as was Fenerbahçe's. “Fenerbahçe's game was very important to win, now we play another important game at home against a team that has a very good level, it was seen in the first round, and it is important to win,” he said.