Ibon Navarro appeared before the press in advance of this Wednesday’s vital match against the Greek Promitheas Patras, the first of the Basketball Champions League quarterfinal play off. The Unicaja coach believes that his team has to take advantage of the greater depth of its bench to play a long game against a rival with fewer human resources and more punished for minutes.
Template status
“We arrived well. We have been preparing for two-three weeks to get to this moment well. “Ejim and Djedovic already trained normally on Monday, so they are available for the match against Promitheas.”
Match plan
“It is clear that it is a somewhat atypical team, without interior references, but with very hard-working players who create many spaces for their most important perimeter players. A team with a very high volume of outside shooting. The other danger is their offensive rebound, the mobility of the interior makes them very aggressive. We have to read the game well and know that it is a long game. It is likely that they are right at the beginning of the game and that they can take the lead, but we have to play the game hard to be competitive, wear them down and be able to win at the end. You have to take the game at a high pace. “We have to try to impose our bench depth so that their important men are not fresh.”
First match value
“The Promitheas field is not very hot compared to what we have found on other courts in this BCL, but on a physical level it is true that we arrived better at this first match than we will arrive at the second, with the trip to Manresa in the middle . In theory we are physically better for this game than for next week. In a best-of-three play off, with field factor, what you have to do is keep it. That allows you to go into the second game calmly, knowing that you have another one at home later. “It is important to win, but 1-0 or 0-1 is not definitive either.”.
Ibon Navarro, during the press conference this Tuesday. / Unicajab/Photopress-Mariano Pozo
Too much triumphalism
“I don’t like some comments that I haven’t read, but that they tell me. If I’m honest, I don’t like them. We don’t learn. You can’t fail and this is sport, you can have a bad day and Promitheas can beat you. It seems like an outright mistake to talk about Belgrade, but I can’t control it. I hope it doesn’t affect us. I think the team is focused and knows what it has to do. We know the strengths and weaknesses of the rival team and we know what we have to do to win. We cannot fall into a mistake of the past. Let’s not think of ourselves as what we are not. We have not won the BCL so many times, that is to say never, to have more than enough in this competition. “You have to have respect for your rivals and for the BCL itself.”
Thorn in the squad with the BCL
“Dylan said the other day that it was a shitty weekend. And it’s true. The whole team has very bad memories of that weekend. But wanting to win a lot doesn’t make you win. All the teams that make it to the They are going to want the Final Four just like we do. They don’t give it to you because you want it a lot. What’s more, if you only think about winning, the normal thing is that you won’t win, like last year. It can create anxiety for us. “To be competitive, we have to focus on winning this tie first and then the Final Four.”
Disposal
“As we get closer to the end the discard is a brown one. All the players want to play, but we have to put all the situations on the table and see what the rival can ask of us. It is not easy at all. “I don’t like the idea we have, it may be a little surprising, but it’s what we have to do.”
Rest of qualifying rounds
“I think Lenovo Tenerife is superior to Tofas Bursa, Peristeri has little rotation, but has improved a lot, it is a very competitive team and has its options against Telekom Bonn and UCAM Murcia is also superior, although Ludwisburg is a very vertical and dangerous team” .
2024-04-02 09:09:32
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