Bilbao Basket steps on the Burgos Coliseum tomorrow, with Mumbrú in front. It’s not just another day at the office. First of all, the Biscayan team can match its historical streak of consecutive victories: 8. And secondly, the Barcelona coach arrives at a track that over time has become like a third home, due to the affection he receives each time. that steps on it Everything was built in 2018, when he retired. It was his last service dressed in shorts, already with the sad descent materialized some time ago, and he received an ovation of those that give goosebumps. It is an image that remains to be remembered: he took one of his sons on his back and with the ten thousand spectators chanting his name, he went to the locker room tunnel bowing for something he did not expect. Later he began his career as a coach and Hereda even had him on their agenda. He preferred to fulfill the year he had signed in Bilbao, in a project a hundred times more humble, and surely now he blesses that decision, because Burgos is at risk of relegation. He goes for the third coach after Tabak and Maldonado
Anyway, this guy doesn’t live on sentimentality, and he doesn’t stop to think about records or offers from the past. Of course, he can not stop showing gratitude to a hobby that is not his. “It’s not just another place, because I left thinking that my last nice game would be in Miribilla and I found a lovely crowd in Burgos, who gave me the gift of being able to leave basketball with the people standing, applauding and it is something that I am not only grateful for, but on top of that you are always excited to return to the place where you stopped playing basketball and they treated you so well”, points out at the Motos Abando dealership, one of the club’s sponsors.
This love relationship, now that we are in the week of Valentine’s Day, can be extrapolated to both hobbies, They have a lot of affinity, and even to the two clubs. So the Surne steps on a friendly pitch, though when the ball does fly, it will be as hostile as ever. Of the seven wins in a row for Surne, two have been the only ones away from home that they have achieved throughout the season, in Seville against Coosur Betis and in Santiago against Monbus Obradoiro.
Regarding Burgos’s interest in taking over his services some time ago, Mumbrú quickly dispatched him: “The rumor mill is always everywhere, more so now that anyone can pick up a phone and launch unfounded news.” The fact is that Paco Olmos is measured for the second time in two different teams: he already beat him with Breogán in the famous match postponed due to the problem in the possession cube and now he does it with the Castilian painting. The Valencian coach has abandoned a winning project that will be in the Cup this week and that excites an entire city for another disappointing one in low hours, with the danger of relegation. He fell in the Champions League and lost in the Intercontinental final last weekend. A change of sidewalk for money that makes it difficult to think that Mumbrú would have given, although he, logically, does not get into that puddle: “He would make the decisions the best he thought they were for him. Everyone has their conclusions” .
For the rest, equaling the record for consecutive victories is not something that keeps him up at night: “I don’t give much importance to the numbers, because all these things are only useful for you more than for us, we try to think game by game , we are on a hot streak because of what we have done weekly. We are going to try to play a good game away from home and more, on a track like this that is tight and is so special”.
Surne has had a long week, ten days, to prepare for this event, since it was postponed to make room for Hereda’s participation in the Intercontinental. The rival risks his life, as a bottom player, “but it is also important for us,” says Mumbrú. “We are going to find a very hungry team, in need of victory. They are the current champions of the Champions League and they want to get up and running as soon as possible. We have to put up with their departure because with their people it will be 200 percent. They are going to live with the need for victory, that sometimes plays tricks on you or good, like we did last year”.
The coach and many players have changed, so it is a very different block from Miribilla in the first round. “They have more rhythm after the two games in Egypt,” concludes Mumbrú. There will be no Bilbao fans, on a Wednesday, very late (9:30 p.m.), due to the impossibility of selling tickets.