By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
BELGRADE, Serbia – He’s done it again: after dragging Lenovo Tenerife to the gold medal in the 2022 Basketball Champions League Final Four in Bilbao, Marcelinho Huertas will have another shot at the title in Belgrade, having contributed to his team’s win in the Semi-Finals against Belgrade.
After his umpteenth huge performance with 25 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, going close to another double-double, he stopped by in the mixed zone to express his feelings. “This is the beauty of this sport, you always have another one, you always have another chance, another opportunity”, he first said.
Then, he looked back at what this Basketball Champions League campaign reserved for them. “When we started the season we had big goals, but we had to think every step of the way. We can’t put ourselves ahead of time. We put in a lot of work all throughout the season, we were solid the whole competition once again”, he also added commenting on Tenerife’s path to the BCL Final.
“We know how important it is to make good group rounds to get home-court advantage and to skip the Play-Ins. All this pays off in the end if you’re able to be strong at home. We’re a team with a lot of experience. Luckily in this kind of competition, we were able to qualify quite often, and hopefully, we can still do this in the future”, Marcelinho Huertas left some optimism about his team’s future.
The black-and-yellow side made it there also thanks to an amazing 34-point night from Kyle Guy. “Beast, scoring machine”, the Brazilian first said about his teammate. “At one point in the fourth quarter, he just took over. Kyle has unlimited weapons, and he’s just a scoring machine”, he added.
“Whenever he makes one-two and sees the rim as big as a swimming pool, just give him the ball and watch”, he expressed on Kyle Guy. When asked if he was the right adjustment after last season, he agreed. “Since day one he fit in the system, we know how to play for him and he’s just been unbelievable for us. Hopefully, we can keep taking advantage of this and enjoying the basketball”, he said.
Praising Txus Vidorreta and limiting Joe Ragland
Turning 41 years old at the end of May, Marcelinho Huertas was asked for the secret of longevity in the post-game flash interviews. “Passion, and go at every day like it is the first. There are many ways of taking care of yourself and your body, but if you don’t have that fire inside…”, he commented. When said he has two more seasons than LeBron, he got a big smile on his face. “We’re almost on the same level, both of us”, the Brazilian icon also joked.
Another good example of sticking to the highest level is also Lenovo Tenerife’s head coach, who will have another shot at this title on Sunday. “[Txus] Vidorreta is an amazing coach. On a daily basis, preparing games. As long as we’re able to follow the gameplans, being true to our identity and the way we play, we’re always gonna end up having a chance”, the Brazilian playmaker said about the Basque leader.
“We’re able to adjust and he’s great at guiding the team. So much experience and he knows how to find the weak points on the opposing team, defensively and offensively. We just try to follow game plans and play basketball”, Marcelinho Huertas continued praising head coach Txus Vidorreta.
Last but not least, he also commented on containing Peristeri’s leader Joe Ragland. “We knew their game was based a lot on his spring roll situations, he’s able to score, pull up threes, drive to the basket, create for the others. We tried to reduce his passing abilities, making him take tough shots, out of the two-point range, pushing him to his right hand, the weak hand”, he said.
At the end of the day, they decided to put their money on the right defensive adjustment. “Sometimes you gotta get a gamble: you can’t fully stop on a player who has such quality, but you have to try to control as best as you can. We were loyal to our game plan and it paid off. Of course, he’s scoring, we’re able to involve other teammates as well. Sometimes you gotta pick and choose your poison”, he added before going to rest, preparing on another Basketball Champions League Final.
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League
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