GRANADA, Feb. 17 (from the EUROPA PRESS special envoy, Rodrigo Tracasa) –
Lenovo Tenerife’s coach, Txus Vidorreta, stressed “the extraordinary work on a defensive level” that they carried out in Thursday’s victory against Joventut in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, although that also caused them to play the match “a little long”, also affected because Marcelinho Huertas played diminished by illness.
“We have done an extraordinary job at a defensive level, almost 40 minutes. We have had some problems in the last quarter, where we have stopped pressing, but the defensive work has been exhausting. It has had to do with the fact that we have had more problems to score and The match has been a bit long for us”, said Vidorreta at a press conference after the match.
The Basque coach stressed that they lacked “a little control” and blamed it in part on Marcelinho Huerta playing “sick and limited”. “The game was taking a long time for him, he wanted to take the ball away because he was very tired and he made passes where we had it so he wouldn’t have it for so long. I found out at the end of the game, that’s how his winning character is, he doesn’t want excuses, I saw him like that and if I had known, I would have been able to manage him better,” he confessed about the veteran point guard.
Vidorreta admitted that they showed “weakness” and that this allowed his rival to continue “believing despite the fact that you continue to dominate.” “When everything seemed lost, the team has shown its character and experience in this competition and we have won with difficulty, but fairly”, he declared.
“By not having the director of the game one hundred percent, there has been more imbalance in attack, but leaving Joventut at the scoring levels that we have left them in eight days means that we have done a great defensive job,” he reiterated.
The coach of the team from Tenerife confirmed that Bruno Fitipaldo “has not improved” from his physical problems and that he hopes he can do so “in these 48 hours” until the semifinal, while he praised Tobias Borg’s good minutes.
“I would play a lot in any other team. He trains at a very high level and that is why he can compete like today, but he has ‘Marce’, Bruno, Salin and Sastre ahead of him and he is aware, that’s why when he has an opportunity he takes advantage of it and those They are the players that make me fall in love because that shows that they understand what their role is and they don’t make excuses,” he said.
Finally, regarding the number of fouls pointed out to Joventut, he pointed out that it could be due to the disadvantage he had on the scoreboard. “We were clearly dominating and they had to press harder and that is why many faults have been pointed out, which in my opinion were. We all have some decision that harms us,” he settled.