By Vangelis Papadimitriou/ info@eurohoops.net
The Euroleague double-round week had in store for Real Madrid a trip to Greece and two games against Olympiakos and Panathinaikos.
The EuroLeague champions had no problem winning both, first in Pireaus (71-77) and then in Athens (90-78).
And one of the key players for both triumphs was Dzanan Musa who talked to Eurohoops after the last game against Panathinaikos.
The Bosnian tallied 14 points (1/2 two-pointers, 4/9 three-pointers), two rebounds and three assists in 20:14′ on the court, but the most important thing for him was the two victories.
”Not bad, right? (laughs)”, he said with a smile.
“It was very important for us to get at least one win, we knew we had a difficult schedule since the road game with Maccabi until now – including four games on the road – but we managed to get three wins. I am very proud of my team, we continue to work and build together. We need to maintain that energy.”
As it happened against Olympiacos, Musa picked up the pace in the second half, scoring 11 crucial points.
In a light mood, he joked: ”I started playing again in the third period (laughs)! I’m proud that I kept my mind in the game, even when in the first half I didn’t score and generally didn’t do much for the team. But in the second I came back, just like in the match against Olympiakos. This shows to me that the mental work I put in over the summer is paying off.”
Real Madrid has started the season impressively, has just one defeat so far, and does the “curse” of finishing on top of the scare him?
”And what should we do, lose? (laughs). It’s good for us. We have to be careful because the situation can change. For me, the season starts in February and goes on until the end. For this part, we must prepare. But it’s always better to win than to lose”
With Real’s season so far reminiscent of last year’s Olympiacos, Musa agreed that there are similarities.
On the other hand, he hopes that history doesn’t repeat itself: ”I hope the same thing doesn’t happen to us this year. Olympiacos was fearsome. There are many good teams, this year’s Euroleague is very difficult and very demanding, so we have to keep our concentration and our strength. We work every practice like it’s our last, we keep building. I hope we get it again. When you wear this jersey, you want to go out and beat everybody, that’s what we want. It won’t be easy, as you can see everyone wants to beat us. But we are in good shape and we are trying to”.
As for his teammate Mario Hezonja’s gesture towards the Panathinaikos fans at the end of the game which could be interpreted as a possibility of a return to Panathinaikos in the future, Musa didn’t make much of it: “He likes Panathinaikos, he never hid it, it was a great motivation for him for this game. I’m glad he had such a big game, everyone stepped up, it was a team win”.