By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes played an excellent game against Partizan Belgrade, winning 97-65 on the road and sweeping the black-and-white Serbian side. It’s the third time this season that Luca Banchi has beaten Partizan, considering another victory coaching Virtus Bologna too.
Asked if he prepares for this kind of challenge with any kind of different approach, he didn’t mention anything special, but took time to comment with nice words on such an atmosphere.
“There are no secrets. Just be here with good teams and great players who have the capacity to handle the specific atmosphere you breathe here: that crowd makes everything special, not only for the local team but of course also for the people who come to play,” Banchi said.
“It’s one of the moments in your career when you really enjoy your job, for everybody: coaches, management, players. I believe that makes everything special, with no other secret ingredients.”
Luca Banchi also spoke about his players being conditioned by injuries on the road, as Anadolu Efes suffered several setbacks with assets like Vincent Poirier, Dan Oturu, and Rodrigue Beaubois. “It’s a mix between happiness and a bit worried for the many injuries we collected during the game,” he said.
“In the second half, we lost completely [Vincent] Poirier, then [Dan] Oturu, then [Rodrigue] Beaubois: we need healthy players, we need players to stay at their best level. That’s what we need. Everybody gave his contribution to give us such a pace. That’s the basketball wish to play.”
The Italian head coach, however, showed optimism. “We already faced adversities and we already proved everybody has the will and desire to overcome them,” he said.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague