Barcelona –
Coach Banchi’s words at the end of the game with Barcelona: “Of course the regret is related to the performance, the lack of physicality and consistency. They impose, their aggressiveness. We really struggle. There were only two periods when we scored 17 points, we never had more than that. In each period we ended with very modest statistics on defense, especially in the second quarter. This cost us a lot in terms of inertia. They controlled rebounds, second opportunities, and whenever we tried to cover the basket, we were not as consistent as a team, as a unit and rebounding. We missed the opportunity to play this game with the right consistency, physicality and aggressiveness. When you play against an opponent like this, you can’t finish like we did the first and second quarter, without going inside, without falling foul, it’s about toughness. And tonight Barcelona was tougher than us. It’s time to think about the next game. I have a different approach, because every night in the Euroleague is like that and the level of the opponents offers no chance to perform below our standard. And so far our standard has been very high.
This is the picture. As I said, their physicality and aggressiveness made the difference. They were super determined to limit our offensive efficiency. Despite their aggressiveness, our first quarter was solid and we made some mistakes that we can avoid, such as the last three baskets, an extra foul to concede. But then, unfortunately, in the second quarter we did not respond as we did in the first ten minutes and they started to get rebounds to control the area. The second opportunity in terms of continuity, I think their defense was high level, but this is the level where we want to compete and this is the level where we have to find a solution. Yes, we are actually going day by day. In the last couple of months we have had a lot of injuries that have affected our preparation in general. Tonight was the first minute for Dobric and we expect Shengelia to be back in action. He needs to train, to regain his form like Dobric and like most of our players who, like Mickey for example, suffered long injuries during the season. But it is something that has to be managed. This is the format, this is the reality. There is no time to rest, no time to train. You just have to travel, play, travel, play. And in this situation, let’s say, we have to find a way to rehabilitate the players. I hope Toko is available, but it’s also a double week, so it’s a week where we only trained yesterday. Now it’s difficult because I understand that he would like to come back and help out. On the other hand we have to be as careful as everyone, but it’s the story of every team when you have injuries, no matter if it’s an important player or just a role player, it’s not so easy to bring him back into action.
The month of January, with a schedule of 22 official games, it seems like a regular season for a regular team and instead we had 22. And unfortunately it was also the period when we collected a lot of injuries and very serious ones that ended the season for someone like Cacok and new guys who were coming in and trying to rebuild and it’s a difficult process that usually takes time. But this format requires us to respond very quickly, to respond very aggressively. So as we try to reduce the time to prepare for a game, to recover from the effort is the same in order of this moment. Now we enter February, which is a month in which we will play national cups and in which we will have national team windows. So it’s still a lot and let’s say that at least we have some history behind us, although it’s a strange season. But the first month has shown that if tonight, Jan. 31, we are in Barcelona, facing Barcelona sharing the same position in the standings, it means something. So the time has come to keep the boys together, knowing that difficult moments are part of a team’s journey. But my job is also to give everyone direction and confidence that we will find a way to respond and get back to our level of basketball, first and foremost, and effort and energy and consistency that we have already shown that we are capable of showing on the court.”
