By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
ANTWERP– Following the win of Virtus Bologna over Brose Bamberg in the first Basketball Champions League semifinal, Kevin Punter didn’t really feel like talking about his 21-point display nor show any signs of celebration.
“Our job is not done yet,” Punter said.
One day before the grand Final against Iberostar Tenerife, Bologna center Yanick Moreira echoed his teammate’s sentiment.
“When you make it this far you don’t really want to celebrate anything until it’s over,” Moreira told Eurohoops. “Until the championship is over. We may have won but we aren’t satisfied of course. We got to play a game tomorrow so we have to be ready.”
Moreira dominated the air traffic vs. Bamberg enough to collect a game-high nine rebounds in the 18 minutes he spent on the floor. The Angolese big guy hopes he will repeat such a performance in the Final to help his team assume the critically important control of the tempo.
“We got to play defense and rebound the ball better for 40 minutes. You don’t want to let them… speed you up. They want to make a quick stop and then rush to the other side and make things happen. We can’t allow that and we must stay focused.”
Tenerife’s inside game needs extra attention, according to Moreira.
“They try to put the ball inside the paint. So we got to be smart, especially with our fouls. Overall we have to play smart and stop them from playing their game.”