By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
When the Spanish journalists got to the press conference and they didn’t see Juan Carlos Navarro next to Xavi Pascual, they thought it was just one more time that FC Barcelona Regal’s captain didn’t follow Euroleague’s (or Liga Endesa ‘s) rules. You see, it’s a common thing not to care for these things.
Then they heard Pascual explain with every little detail about his injury at plantar fascia –later on he even was on one foot, so he can show us exactly where is the problem- they were sure, Navarro is fine!
Few minutes ago, they got to learn that Boni N’Dong had a stomach flu from… last Tuesday. After the practice he had some tests, the doctors prescript some pills, but nothing changed on Wednesday so that’s why he didn’t practice. On Thursday he was out again, but this time 3 hours before the flight to Istanbul, he went to the hospital to… clean up his stomach (providing to him only liquid food) and then directly to the airport. Until today, he couldn’t eat something else than rice and he lost a lot of weight. But today it was about time to return to the practices. Of course he is not 100% ready, but he is healthy.
Now, you can compare what happened with Navarro (Pascual told the press about his injury at the official press conference) and what was going on with N Dong (they hide everything) and you can fully understand that La Bomba’s health is superb.
Juan Carlos Navarro himself after the practice of Barcelona said: “I didn’t do a full practice, because I want to save my energy and be 100% ready for the semifinal”. Olympiacos coach Duda Ivkovic added a little later talking to Greek reporters: “You saw him practice, right?”