By Bugra Uzar/ info@eurohoops.net
After leading Baskonia to the Final Four last season, Perasovic has the same goal with Anadolu Efes, even things against Olympiacos are not expected to be easy.
However, as he reminded to Eurohoops, nothing is easy, specially in this new era of the EuroLeague: “I like the new format of the EuroLeague. It’s challenging and good for everybody. But it’s harder for the players. Each team had some injury woes. Unfortunately we are having some problems too. But it’s normal. When there are long trips and you play high level games, it’s normal to have some injuries. This may be the only problem for new format. But I believe teams are going to adapt. Maybe they can build larger rosters. However, all 16 teams are great teams. All of them had great expectations before the season. They all have really good players. All teams had some surprising loses. Winning 16 games and reaching playoffs in this format is huge success for us”.
After all, Perasovic knew when he was taking the job that the goals of Anadolu Efes would be lofty and he admits that there are similarities between last season’s Baskonia and this season’s Efes: “Yes, I can say that there are some mutual points. We are trying to play fast tempo like last year. We wanted to build an athletic roster at the beginning. Not the most talented roster but a really athletic roster. If we can run and use our athletic skills, we are really dangerous.
A lot of times we are making decisions like athletic teams do. Without thinking too much and taking decisions with our heart… Sometimes that’s becoming a problem during games.
We are a team which loves to run and take fast decisions. This is sometimes good and sometimes bad. If we are playing half court basketball, we are not the perfect team. We have to change the rythme of the game and when we do it, we can beat everybody in everywhere”.
And the question is if they can do it against a very experienced and solid opponent like Olympiacos. Perasovic and his team are ready for the challenge: “Olympiacos is the most serious team in EuroLeague during the last 10 years. They have kept important players in their roster for so many years. They have a core of Greek players. Spanoulis, Printezis, Papanikolaou, Mantzaris and Papapetrou are the heart of both Olympiacos and the Greek national team. They added some great players also but Greek players are very critical for them. They are playing tough and aggresive basketball. They have high concentration. It’s hard to win games at Piraeus. They are never giving up. They are playing good in crucial minutes because of their experience. They are one of the toughest opponents in EuroLeague and nobody in EuroLeague wants to play against them.
But CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, Fenerbahce and Panathinaikos are also tough opponents. In this moment, there are no easy games and we have to deal with our next obstacle. And the obstacle is Olympiacos.
We managed to beat Panathinaikos two times in their court last year with Baskonia. It’s always tough to play in Greece. We are aware of that. But if you play good, you can beat anybody. We want to achieve something big and reach Final Four. We know that our job is not easy against Olympiacos but we will do our best to reach our goals”.
Anadolu Efes after all started slow but ended the season and strong and Perasovic wants to keep this momentum in the playoffs: “I think we had a tough schedule. We played two away games against two tough opponents like Olympiacos and Baskonia. Then we played against CSKA. When we lost those three games, everybody considered them as bad start. But the season is too long and in this year’s format you are playing 30 games. Everything can change in a couple of weeks. From that point, we improved our performance. We won games against Crvena Zvezda and Zalgiris on the road and those victories were crucial for our final clasification. I think this year’s EuroLeague was too tough for every team. Even Real Madrid, CSKA, Olympiacos got some surprising defeats. Nobody was sure about their place in standings until the last minute. That’s why being in playoffs is huge success for every team”.
And Perasovic who has a reputation for being a strict coach, has to give credit to his players for this achievement: “It’s hard for a coach to talk about his players but I’m happy with them. They understand my philosophy and try to do their best. When you talk about one specific player, during this long season you can pinpoint his good and bad performances. But the most important thing is that they want to improve their game and they want team sucess. That’s the key. They are fighting to be successful as a team because if the team is not successful, it’s not important to be successful as player. They are aware of this”.