By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
After outlasting MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in the Basketball Champions League Semifinals, Baxi Manresa focused on meeting the fellow ACB participant in the Final on Sunday.
“I think Tenerife is a very experienced team. They have been in this situation before. We are new to this,” pointed out Yankuba Sima in the postgame press conference following Friday’s contest in Bilbao Arena, “We are not scared at all. It’s going to be 40 minutes on the court. One team against the other. We have played against them and know how they play. It is going to be a dog fight and we are going to show up for sure. We are going to try to make history with this team.”
“Tenerife is one of the best teams in this competition,” added play-caller Pedro Martinez, “They have maybe three times more budget than us. It’s a team traditionally successful in the ACB. And we are a small club. This is the first time we are playing at this level. Now, the only thing that we want is to recover physically and have the opportunity to compete against them. We know they are the favorites in the competition. We understand our situation perfectly.”
Sima, 25, went for a team-high 15 points against Ludwigsburg. Delivering 6/7 field goals, he was a key part of the 34 points scored in the paint. Grabbing four rebounds helped the Catalonia side outrebound its semifinal opponent, 55 to 42.
“It was a high-intensity game. We knew it was not going to be easy,” he said, “Ludwigsburg had a great season. We know they are very physical. We could not get in our rhythm because they press a lot. We had to stay focused for 40 minutes. We made key plays at the end, a lot of stops, and that’s what got us the win.”
On the losing end, Ludwigsburg was limited to 20/70 field goals, including 4/26 from beyond the arc. A tough night at the office with nine missed free throws as well.
“You can’t win a game if you give up eight points on offensive rebounds on free throws,” summed up head coach John Patrick, “And we missed a lot of layups.”
“In the second half, we kind of lost our identity. Those guys got more comfortable,” admitted Ludwigsburg’s lone double-digit scorer Justin Simon, “We did not have the same kind of grit we had throughout this Champions League.”
After getting knocked out in the semifinal stage of FIBA’s top European club continental competition for the second time in team history, the German side will settle for the third-place game opposite Israel’s Hapoel U-NET Holon Sunday.
“Missing Tremmell Darden was a big shock for us,” Patrick commented on Tremmell Darden being forced to the injury list, “He really really wanted to play but he was not able to. He still has swelling in his calf. And we still have more basketball to play.”
Postgame press conference:
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League