Bologna, 26 March –
Coach Sergio Scariolo spoke in a press conference after the game against Pesaro: “Happy with today’s performance against a team that plays well, with energy, and it’s never easy to play against us like the first game was. We also ran the risk of having the dross from Friday night, as we saw at the beginning, but then the team’s professionalism made the difference and we opened the break that closed the discussion, allowing us to manage the minutes as well.
Their defence allowed us so many open shots and we were good at exploiting them even if in some cases we were perhaps too hasty. In the second half we extended the minutes of defensive aggression and this allowed us to have second chances on counter-attacks and accumulate the points that calmed us down.
The few lost balls? This is important because we are a team that takes risks. Today we took some but we did it consciously and we took care of the ball, turning it over. The shooting percentage wasn’t very high but for example Mickey’s last shot in the second quarter was well constructed and I had taken it in a good way, but he went in and out and it hurt him: it’s a bit of an unlucky period for him but he’s giving us a big hand with the rebounds on defence. I know he works hard both defensively, rebounding and building the game, but I’m sure the shots will come back in.
Back to back? If you go on the court in Tel Aviv without being fully focused they will blow you away. We promised that we would be in the fight until the end and so we are doing everything to keep believing until the maths condemn us. We are still in the fight and we have kept our promise and we don’t want any leaks of motivation to jeopardise our progress.
In the championship we look at our path and continue on our way, always hoping to win the next game.”
