The Real Madrid coach, Pablo Laso, pointed out after his team’s victory against Joventut (99-89), the sixth in a row including the three games of the Euroleague basketball quarterfinals against the Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv, that Neither was his team “a disaster” two weeks ago, nor is it “the milk” now.
“Neither two weeks ago we were a disaster nor are we milk now, but there is no doubt that having won six games in a row makes it seem that everything is going well. I don’t see it that way, I see details to improve and it’s my obligation. It is true that it was a complicated match and the team has been prepared to overcome everything that Joventut has done”, analyzed the coach from Vitoria.
Laso said that they were expecting a “very complicated” match and that it was because Joventut made them “think”, with defensive changes, zones, or with the different positions assumed by the Croatian center Ante Tomic. “This is a team that plays basketball well and if you make a mistake, they enter“, he highlighted.
“Qualifying was an important match for us, I don’t talk much about qualifying, but we are in the last days and we have to look at it, for us today’s victory was very important,” he added.
Asked about Adam Hanga’s good performance (20 points and 5 of 9 three-point shooting), Laso underlined the reliability of the Hungarian forward.
“I’ll talk to you first about what it doesn’t contribute, it doesn’t contribute errors. This is very important. He gives us solidity in the game, he has shot 9 triples and gives you the feeling that they are all good shots, his percentage has been good and the feeling of the game has been very good. Adam understands basketball well, it’s important to us. He comes from playing a very good series against Maccabi”, he declared.
Real Madrid seem to have left behind the lack of reliability that they had shown in recent months.
“A few days ago I was talking about the fact that victories are not bought, that you need victory to have that confidence in the sport. When you are not able to close matches and you have moments that you doubt a lot, that would have happened today. The team has been very prepared mentally, it has had bad timesbut he has been able to overcome the situations that Joventut has proposed, which is the third best team in the League”, he concluded.