By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
A three-time Euroleague champion as a player, Laboral Kutxa head coach Velimir Perasovic is in his third stint with the club from Vitoria.
Since the mid-1990s it just so happens that every 10 years Perasovic re-writes the club’s history books and helps it contend for European trophies. Exactly 20 years ago as a player, he helped the club lift Saporta Cup – its only ever European trophy – and in his first stint as club’s head coach he guided it to the second of four consecutive Euroleague Final Four appearances in 2006. Now, 10 years later, Perasovic has Laboral going to the Final Four and contending for Euroleague glory once again. “Fenerbahce does not have many cracks you can exploit,” Perasovic said of his team’s semifinals opponent. “No matchup with them is a good one. They have toughness, they have speed and quickness, they are aggressive. But no team is unbeatable. We have to play our basketball and see where it takes us.”
Your team did not enter the season as one of the favorites. Was there a turning point during the season when you felt that your team was going to be a serious Final Four and championship contender?
”When we won two road games in the Top 16, first in Barcelona then in Madrid, we started to believe we can qualify. Until that moment, it was an illusion to expect we would be among the four teams at the end of the season, especially with the tough Top 16 group we had. But after wins in Barcelona and Madrid, things turned around. We understood we have a big chance. First, we knew that the road to the playoffs goes through our gym, where we play a lot better than on the road, like any other Euroleague team. Those two wins told not only us, but also to our opponents, that they have to deal with a serious team.”
Last summer you took over a team that had six or seven players back from the season before. Those guys finished with a losing record. What did you try to do and change how they played together this year that resulted in such a turnaround?
”The fact is that our club did not have finances to put together an expensive team. But if you don’t have an expensive team does not mean you can’t have a good team. We kept most of the players from last season, and that was a good move. I think that players tend to player better in their second season, when they are accustomed to the team and the competitions they play. We signed a few additions, and those were also the right moves. So, players with the experience of spending a year in the club, and the arrival of Ioannis Bourousis, is the combination that helped us to come up with a competitive squad.”
In terms of confidence and belief, what did the sweep of Panathinaikos Athens, with a series-clinching win on the road in Athens without three of your starters, do for your team going to Berlin?
”When we qualified for the playoffs, we had home-court advantage. We knew home-court advantage was very important, and without it we would not have much chance to get to the Final Four. But with the home-court advantage we knew we had a chance. However, we were hit by injuries of Fabien Causeur and from earlier Tornike Shengelia, then in the playoff we also lost Adam Hanga. After we won Game 2 without Hanga, we came within a win of the Final Four. And in Athens, without those three important players, the rest of the guys made a step forward. When you have that many injuries, it is hard to play well if others don’t step up. And they did, and that game in Olympic Sports Center Athens that qualified us for the Final Four was the crown of our season so far. I hope that’s not it, though. I hope we will have something more to say at the Final Four, too.”
You did not play Fenerbahce this season, but you’ve surely watched them. What jumps out for you about that team?
”From day one they are one of the favorites to win the Euroleague. Every time you have Zeljko Obradovic as a coach you are one of the favorites. He is without a doubt the best European coach, and has experience in putting a team together and leading it, and experience in this competition, which makes all his teams favorites, just like Fenerbahce this year. They have a great balance, a lot of good, quality individuals, and a lot of players who are hungry for success. I think it is evident, the way they played the entire Euroleague, they are considered the absolute Euroleague favorite.”
Fenerbahce has a versatile squad, that similar to you, showed character and found ways to perform well and win without its injured stars. How do you think you match up against that team?
”Their strength is their team effort. They have a lot of great individuals, but as a team they are what every coach wants to have. They are tough, disciplined, versatile. They have a big team and can play big, but can also play with a small lineup. They are good on the perimeter. Fenerbahce does not have many cracks you can exploit. No matchup with them is a good one. They have toughness, they have speed and quickness, they are aggressive. But no team is unbeatable. We have to play our basketball and see where it takes us.”
Success for both Laboral and Fenerbahce started with their defense this season, but both teams proved over and over again this season they possess some serious offensive firepower. What do you think will be the key in Berlin?
”It is hard to say in advance. It is important to play good, make shots and have good shooting percentages. You got to play tough defense, and not let the opponent have an easy way. But every time it is something different, so it is a guess what will be a key. The experience of playing in such games is important. I am not sure if it is crucial, but it is important, so you don’t get weak in the legs when you play at such stage. A Final Four stage is different. Ten years ago, I had a fantastic team, but we lost the semifinal game against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the first quarter cause we did not respond to it all. It is hard to tell what will happen, but we will prepare the best we can and try to play the best we can against one of the best teams on the continent.”
You personally know coach Obradovic your entire basketball career. You two were teammates on a gold-medal world champion team. Did you ever think back then that you two would go on to compete against each other as coaches at this high level, the Final Four? Did you see a future coach in him?
”He was also with us in the training camp for European championship in 1991 before taking over at Partizan. Who could have guessed 25 years ago that we would be in these positions now? However, the fact is that I always viewed Obradovic as a player who was thinking like a coach. He was that type of a player. He might not have had the quality of other great players at his position on the team at the time, like Drazen Petrovic and Sasha Djordjevic, but already back then he was thinking in a different way. And he was well respected for it by every single player on that great team. You could sense that quality of his.”
Ten years ago, you made the Final Four as a coach for the first time at Obradovic’s expense, your team winning a series finale against Panathinaikos as the only road team to finish a series winning away from home to make the Final Four. What’s different now, 10 years later, about this opportunity?
”That win, as great as it was, is nice to remember, but a lot of times I lost against Obradovic. And sometimes I lost by a lot. For me compared to 2006, now I have 10 more years of coaching experience. I was head coach for only two years back then, now I have 12 years of coaching behind me. I view at it all differently. As far as the team I led, it is thankless to talk about it. That Tau Ceramica team from 2006, with Pablo Prigioni, Luis Scola, Tiago Splitter, maybe looks individually better than this one. But that really does not mean anything.”
You have played at the Final Four and won with Split of your native Croatia three consecutive times from 1989 to 1991, and you have been at the Final Four before as head coach of Baskonia in 2006. Knowing a thing or two about Final Four success, what will it take in preparation and at the scene of the event, for Laboral to win two games in Berlin and win the Euroleague title?
”There is no special formula. Players are aware a special moment in their careers is approaching. You live it, you feel it. The way you go to the Final Four, all the interviews, media sessions, photo sessions, all that comes into play. And players respond to it differently individually and we will see how players deal with that pressure of the Final Four. But from the technical-tactical standpoint, we will prepare like for any game. Other than that, there will be no special preparation.”
You have three Euroleague titles as a player, you also won the Saporta Cup as a player, and you won the Eurocup with Valencia as head coach just two years ago. How much would it mean to you to add a Euroleague title in Berlin as a head coach to your trophy collection?
”It would be nice. Winning the Euroleague would be a dream, like it would be a dream for any head coach. I think that is what all coaches dream of when they first get into coaching. But I do not think about this Final Four in that way, I think only about the first game we have in front of us. Winning the title still looks so far away right now, that there is no point to think about it in that such way”.