By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Baskonia took a narrow yet enormously precious victory over Unicaja Malaga on the road that keeps them more than relevant in the race for the EuroLeague playoffs. And head coach Pedro Martinez believes it’s just one step among the many his team has to climb.
“It is a long competition and we have to be patient and persevere. We come off a tough week in terms of results and we have to continue. I hope we reach Round 28 with our playoffs chances alive. I would sign for that right now. I hope it happens, but it will be difficult for everyone,” Martinez said in the post-game presser.
The coach of Baskonia analyzed his team’s win, focusing on the great shooting and solid defense his players put on the floor.
“It was a close game if you don’t take into account the first five minutes of the game, in which Unicaja was playing very strong, with a lot of energy and good offensive rebounding. After that, we came back, especially with Jayson [Granger], who led us back in this game. I am satisfied with how we played in the second half. We passed the ball really well and got open three-pointers. You can see we had good shooting percentages – 68% in two-pointers and 50% in three-pointers. We didn’t make many turnovers; we had a few, but I think we played well. It is complicated to play defense against Unicaja because they have a lot of players who can score, but I believe we played correct defense. Against Unicaja and its coach, he gets the rebounds and not his players because anywhere he goes, his team is also the best offensive rebounder. I don’t know what he tells them or how he does it, but it is always a big problem. It was a drama at the beginning of the game, but after that, rebounds were more balanced and this is why we have the feeling we rebounded more, but in the opening minutes, they missed shots, rebounded and scored. We stopped it after that and this is why we won.”