By Alex Madrid / info@eurohoops.net
Despite his disappointment after the loss to Baskonia in the Spanish ACB championship game, Barcelona coach Svetislav Pesic expressed his certainty that the team will be much improved in the 2020-2021 season.
“This team has continuity, it has a future, it has character and it has what it needs to win titles. But in basketball you don’t play five against zero, you play against other teams. We lost a game that we wanted to win. We are disappointed and very sad, but we know we have teamwork. We know we can play better and I am sure that next season we will take a step forward and win titles,” Pesic said in the post-game presser.
Baskonia won the match after Luca Vildoza made the go-ahead layup with three seconds to play. On the other end, Cory Higgins misfired from beyond the arc. “It was the last game, a very intense game, we could’ve won it too but in this situation, there are some things you can’t change. We have to congratulate our opponent, Baskonia, a great team that has shown good basketball. ”
Pesic saw newly crowned ACB MVP Nikola Mirotic getting fouled out with five minutes to play. The Barcelona star forward had remained on the floor despite committing his fourth foul early in the last period.
“There are times when players of this level play with four fouls and finish the game with four fouls. It’s a decision that can always be criticized but with this decision we live,” Pesic said. He also revealed that Mirotic faced a couple of problems that affected his condition. “It was a risk that he’d play in the game. He had physical problems, two different ones. We tried different therapies in the last days to prepare him, he wanted to play, he wanted to take on the challenge.”