By Stathis Trapezanlidis/ info@eurohoops.net
Alba Berlin beat Artland Dragons (81-79) in first BEKO BBL semi final and kept home the advantage in this series. Sasa Obradovic had a lot of reasons to be satisfied after the game but not happy because of destroys in his country – in Croatia, Bosnia too – some days ago.
In the press conference he appeared with a T-shirt that read “support Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia” expressing his sympathy to people of the three countries. A few hours earlier players of Alba Berlin had appeared with similar T-shirts. After the game the Serbian coach spoke to Eurohoops for the message he wanted to send, his team, the series with Artland Dragons and the German league in general.
– Mr. Obradovic, how easy or difficult is for you and your players now to manage the role of favorite in this series against Artland Dragons?
“This is not the first time that we are the favorites. We were also the favorite in quarterfinals. It’s something we need to manage. You learn to play with pressure, it is sensible to have and it s not only for this game. When you are playing in a semi final series you should be strong and have strong character. You try to do well what you can do well. We have the best defense in the league and that gives us confidence. I do not think we’re so big favorite as you also saw today. Artland Dragons is a very good team with strong character. It’s very difficult to beat them and for me it’s not surprising that they have managed to be in semi finals. There aren’t big differences between two teams at this moment”.
– Your team appeared with quite pressure at the first game, something that seemed especially in last minutes, when Artland Dragons threatened you with a home defeat.
“It’s always difficult the first game. It’s always the most difficult. The two teams had ten days to prepare this game, change some things in practice, prepare some tricks for the other coach and try to surprise him. Next games will not be the same, we now know what to expect. The pressure is on the other hand, since we managed to achieve our first win”.
– Game by game (especially the last five months) – Alba Berlin is better. Is there a ceiling for this team this year? Do you believe that Berlin is ready to return to Euroleague?
“First of all you need to know something very important. We are a team started from scratch and it is amazing that we have been here. At this moment we have not the budget to be in Euroleague and be competitive. We don’ t have the budget neither of Bamberg and Bayern Munich. At the beginning of the season we said that we want to be in semifinals. So we are in semifinals and will give our best to be in finals too. We’ll see what effect and impact will have all this effort to the sponsors of the team and what else we need for being able to return to Euroleague and being competitive. Financial conditions are not the best. I am proud as I said to my team. We play for each other, we have good chemistry and everyone tries to do his best for the team. We have a very good season so far, we have won the Super Cup and the Cup. Our target now is to be in finals, then we will see”.
– Mr. Obradovic, year by year the German league is actually better both racing and marketing issues.
“The league is very competitive and this is not a secret. There are leagues that don’t have many competitive teams, as a result one or two teams dominate and fight for the trophy. In BEKO BBL Bamberg and Bayern are very strong teams, but there are also other good and ambitious teams. The surprise is not missing and this is really good for the league and generally the fans. It’s a league, which is constantly evolving, its visibility is also increasing and people here are really interested in how to improve even more their product”.
– You are coach in a team you were as a player in the past, so you know well the environment.
“I know the environment because I was part of this team as a player in the past. This is good, but as a coach now – the last 9 seasons – you always need to prove things. I am very happy to be here in Berlin, which is like my second home. I really enjoy being a coach in this group. The world is close to the team, people really love it and it is a pleasure to play in these conditions. I’m glad I’m in this club, in this country and I contribute from my side”.
– Finally, would you like to send a message to people of your country and also in those of Croatia, Bosnia?
“Great solidarity to these people. Our minds and our thoughts are with these people and the devastation they have suffered from. We try to support them as much as possible. Many times it is very difficult even to concentrate on your job when you know that these disasters happened a few days ago. Best wishes to the people of these countries. In these cases people come closer. We can’t be happy, no one can be happy with what happened to these people and this is the message I want to send with this T-shirt and after our victory today”.
