By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Furthermore, the head coach of the Basques commented on the non-call on Shane Larkin’s potentially game-winning 3-point attempt in the final seconds, emphasizing that his star player didn’t receive the proper respect by the referees.
“We have a star that is not respected the same,” said Alonso. “He was charged with two fouls very fast and he remained cold. We have to say it because it affected the conditions of the match.”
When asked if Larkin was fouled on his downtown attempt during the controversial last play of the match, he replied that, “It was a clear foul.”
“Coach Itoudis was probably not able to see it because it was on the other corner”, he then added before saying that he didn’t want to discuss the officiating of the match any further.
Alonso also mentioned, “First of all, congratulations to our fans. Without them, it was would have been impossible to compete. I appreciate the effort they made to come to the gym and believe in our team. Without them, all of the things we have done during this game would have been impossible. I want to tell them that we will improve and want to fight all the way in the Spanish League to make them proud and happy with our job, all the way. The EuroLeague finishes now and we now must focus on the Spanish League, but thanks again to our fans for their support.”
“When you have the chance to win a game, it means you did something good to get to that point,” the Baskonia coach also said before making a retrospect of the regular season. “I want analyze our road in the EuroLeague this season, in which I think we did incredible things, but lacked a little bit of determination to finish fourth or third in the regular season after doing such great things. This is what we have to improve in the next stage of the season – the Spanish League. Being mature enough and ambitious to get the best result possible. If the maximum is finishing first, we must try and fight for the maximum goals. Once we qualified and ranked fourth in the EuroLeague Regular Season, we had to fight to avoid such a big team as CSKA, the biggest squad in Europe, made to beat any team. We can do great things together, but the most important thing is improving what depends on us, and it is something we are taking to our next goal, the Spanish League. I think we deserved better than 3-0 and my job is to analyze why we didn’t get a win against team we had on the ropes several times.”