Atenas Closes Regular Phase with a Hard-Fought Victory and Looks Ahead to Playoffs

Atenas closed its home participation in the regular phase with a tight and hard-fought victory against Villa San Martín de Chaco by 66-61. They barely lost a game at Cerutti this season and have already secured their place in the playoffs. Now, the General Bustos neighborhood team will play two away games, against Jáchal de San Juan and Amancay de La Rioja and will enter the break prior to the quarterfinals of the Argentine League, seeking promotion to the National League.

Gustavo Peirone highlighted the importance of the green victory against the Chaco team to maintain the “almost” undefeated record at home.

“They are classic matches of the Argentine League, a very tough League. We come from a tour, which we had to close against the teams that are at the top… It was a very tough tour and I knew internally that this could happen, to have a certain relaxation because we did well on the tour. We knew that we never had to give up, we had to win no matter what and we did it. We made mistakes but attitude and dedication are not negotiable,” the Athens coach highlighted to Mundo D.

-What was the best thing about Athens?

-Defensively we became brave. We played the first half very light, very calm, and on offense the same, and the game was there, in fact, we won by one point. We got angry, we didn’t want to lose. And it’s good to lead a team that doesn’t give in, that goes to the front. When we lose it hurts all of us. A lot of people came to the field, we hardly lost all season and losing the last one was not good, we didn’t deserve it either. It is very redeemable. In the end we played better.

-In addition, it was very difficult to play due to high humidity and heat…

-Very difficult, for both teams without a doubt. The game is stopped for a long time to dry the court, the ball is changed, the ball is not the same to catch. There are a lot of cons that threaten a good game. We were not brilliant at playing but these aspects help.

-You talked about relaxation, can the same happen on the next and last tour?

-It was previously a playoff tour. We played with Armstrong, San Isidro, Suardi, and we came back and played against Villa San Martín, three of the four teams that are at the top. I don’t think that will happen to us again. We know that this is the regular phase and it will not be the same in the playoffs. The objective was to win because we wanted to make our field unbeatable and in fact we did, we lost only one game in the entire season and that is remarkable. There are two very tough games coming up on the last tour and we need to win to try to finish with the “1″. And if not, to do our job, try to win and try to be a better team every day.

Before the two games, a stop

The next games, the last of the regular phase, will be away, but in 15 days. They will play against Jáchal on March 27, probably at the Aldo Cantoni stadium in San Juan, and against Amancay in La Rioja on the 29th.

“It is an incomprehensible thing about the fixture. But it doesn’t depend on you. We have to do the work where we are told and when we are told. We come from the tour with many days away and three games, and without being able to train, you have to recover because two days later there is another game. And there will be 15 days without knowing what to do, to play two games and then another stoppage of we don’t know how many days, 20 days, a month stopped, until the playoffs begin. But that’s how it is stated.

-They are already classified for the quarterfinals, but they will have to wait to play in the playoffs…

-If it was one of the objectives to classify. Afterwards it is relative. My experience last year (with Barrio Parque it was “1” and fell in the first round of the playoffs) it is bad to be unemployed for so long, but ask someone else who did well and they will tell you that it is good because it allows you to work , adjust things.

2024-03-12 21:15:56
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