By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Nikola Kalinic has been there before. This will be the second EuroLeague Final of his career so he’s not really that impressed following the qualification to the title game.
You can easily understand his mentality. What the Serbian player craves is the EuroLeague crown and he’s going to do everything that goes by his hand to win it on Sunday.
“Nobody came here just to play a Final. Let’s be clear on that,” Kalinic told Eurohoops. “Bogdan (Bogdanovic) also said that. We came here to win it and we need to be focused in order to do that. Be as well-prepared as we can and play our game on Sunday.”
Against Kalinic stands Olympiacos that made it to the Final after defeating CSKA Moscow in fashionable, comeback style. One of the “classics”.
The Reds are famed for such feats and the Fener player had actually been among the… admirers.
“Look… everyone knows who Olympiacos is and how it played all these years. They have the heart of the champion and they never give up. I appreciate this team a lot. I was watching Final Fours at home back in the day and was watching Spanoulis and Printezis. I was wondering how they made their shots. Now I have a chance to play against them.”
“But we play our way. We played great yesterday. This gives us a big reason to be confident. We know our basketball and I think it will be a great game to watch,” he added.
Speaking of Spanoulis, what kind of strategy would a fierce and tenacious defender such as Kalinic employ to guard him?
“I’ll try to attack him. Counter-attack. Everybody knows what he can do. Well if he makes some crazy shots then there’s nothing that you can do about it. He’s been doing that for 10 years now. I’m going to make him have a tough life on the floor. Attack him whenever I can. Make him work for it and be hard.”
In a video interview for Eurohoops, Luigi Datome had characterized Nikola Kalinic as one of the “angriest” among his teammates. What does the Serbian forward think about this?
“Angry? I don’t know. I’m not angry. I’d say I’m energetic. I’m playing basketball like that my whole life. When I go in there I just to win. It’s all part of how much I want to win. I want to win badly. I’m a terrible loser and that’s one of the reasons.