By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid came back after two straight losses at home to Partizan Mozzart Bet and won twice in Belgrade to return the quarterfinal series home.
The decisive Game 5 is on the horizon, and the head coach of Blancos, Chus Mateo, shared his thoughts before the match and described it as the most important in this season.
“We have to play with our head, to combat anxiety, which both teams will have, and also with our hearts, to make up for the shortcomings. We arrive with a good mentality, tough, to fight against adversity and not let us give in or throw in the towel. We saw it in Belgrade and I hope it will be like that. Anxiety played a trick on us in the second game. We wanted to come back from 0-1 without thinking that we could both win in Belgrade. There we faced it with experience and patience. We have to be calm,” Mateo said, Marca reports.
A lot has been seen so far in the Real-Partizan series. Game-winning buzzer beaters, incidents, sanctions, injuries…
“There have been conditioning factors that call attention, to which is added the implicit toughness of our League, but now there is no past and there is no future. We focus on what we have. There have been games that could have gone one way or the other, but precedents are no longer valid and we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Real Madrid may be the first team to lift a Euroleague tie in which they lost the first two games.
“We are not thinking about it. There is a lot of history to be done, as our anthem says, but we are only thinking of one game. We must be aware of our shortcomings and strengths. We have managed to bring back the home-court advantage and we will try to win because there is a great prize, not because of the comeback.”
Walter Tavares was crucial for Real so far. He got awarded two MVPs after Games 3 and 4 which he finished with PIRs 41 and 30, respectively.
“He helps us find solutions and conditions for them in defense and offense. I would love for him to continue that way. He sometimes receives many fouls that he has to endure. They try to drive him crazy, but he has to be calm. If he controls it, he’ll be a better player.”
Big news for Partizan is the return of the captain Kevin Punter, who scored the winning shot in the first match of the series.
“He’s a great player and we’ll keep an eye on him. With a shooter, the zones don’t necessarily work. They’ve helped us change their pace, but tomorrow will be another day. Punter or any other can grow. You can’t be careless. You have to defend as a team,” Chus Mateo concluded.
Previously, Zeljko Obradovic said that details can decide the winner of Game 5, and who will go to Final Four in Kaunas.