By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Once again David Blatt proved that he’s the most “media-friendly” coach in the Euroleague. A day after Maccabi‘s triumph against CSKA and a day before the big final against Real he was relaxed and was joking about everything. Even with an SMS that he got by his daughters about Real.
“My daughters are in Mexico and watched Real-Barcelona. After the game they sent me a message: “Sorry that we watched that game”. But what to do? They are honest. They grew up in the right way. It’s weird to watch a team winning by 40 points in a Final Four game. I would say it was scary but we are not terrified” said the coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv showing that he has unique sense of humor.
Apart from that, David Blatt joked also with the age of David Blu: “I am sitting next to a young man that many years ago I brought to Maccabi and we have been to three Final Fours together; he has been to four! In my mind he’s one of the great and underappreciated stars in all of European basketball and I think he’s finally getting his due”.
The snipper of Maccabi thanked his coach and commented about his 5 3ps: “I’ll take a three any day. I’m not as athletic as I once was, but I make up for that in confidence and experience. I’ll take a basket any way I can”.
David Blatt presented also the character of his team which is “ one of our advantages. We’ve been a team with our feet on the ground the whole season. We are humble and hungry. We recognize our limitations and as a unit we have to draw more than the sum of our parts” and he hopes that… impossible is nothing: “The game of basketball is wonderful because no two games are the same and during the course of a game you constantly have to search for answers and players have to provide solutions. The feeling was special and we will remember it for many years. We came here to try to win”.
Laso: “A classic one”
The Real Madrid-Maccabi final is a classic one but happened a lot of years ago last time. And Pablo Laso remembered history: “David Blatt and I have seen Corbalan, Aroesti, Berkowitz, Fernando Martin and all these great players historically in Madrid and Maccabi”.
The coach of Real Madrid mentioned that he’s goal is to have happy players: “We are happy playing basketball the way we are doing it. The most important thing, from the very first day I started coaching this team, is that I want my players to be happy”. And after all he doesn’t want to call his team as favorite. “If you are feeling favorite, you are not very smart. It made us proud and I am proud that you think we are the favorites tomorrow. We respect Maccabi and I don’t see them as underdogs”.
Sergio Llull was asked about Maccabi fans and said “the stands will be yellow due to the many Maccabi fans. They support their team with a lot of passion and heart. It is always nice to play in a scenario like that”.
And here is the video that shows David Blatt’s daughters celebrating Maccabi’s victory in a restaurant in Mexico