By Cesare Milanti/ info@eurohoops.net
BERLIN— Real Madrid couldn’t defend the EuroLeague title, losing in the Championship Game against Panathinaikos.
Chus Mateo, the EuroLeague Coach of the Year, shared his impression after his side lost in the final, after entering the 2024 Final Four in Berlin as a top-seeded team from the Regular Season.
“Congratulations to Panathinaikos; they deserved to win with a very good second half. In the final round of the very tough regular season, we did a great job all season, and now we are talking about one game in which we also did a good job. I’m proud of my players. We tried. It can be challenging to win two titles in a row. We fought till the end, but I must tell you that in the first half, we understood what we had to do and did a good job, but they had very good players. They increased their defense and started playing with much more physicality, and we started losing energy and shooting too much from the outside. In the first half, we were deeper in the penetration and the inside game,” Mateo said.
Kostas Sloukas received the MVP honors after scoring 24 points without a miss from the field.
“Sloukas was the MVP; he really deserved it, scoring two or three shots in the important moments that made the difference.”
Mateo wants his players to hold their heads high despite the loss.
“We are going to cry tonight, and we are going to stand up tomorrow. We are going to fight until the end. This is the spirit that I want from my team. In sports, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, now we have to show that Rael Madrid character, congratulate the opponents, and keep walking forward”, Chus Mateo concluded.