By Stathis Trapezanlidis/ info@eurohoops.net
Artland Dragons lost Game 3 by Alba Berlin. However they have a great season in BEKO BBL finishing in the seventh place of regular season standings, qualifying to the semifinals over defending champions Brose Baskets and beating Alba in the second semifinal game they are back.
On their bench, there’s a rookie head coach, Tyron McCoy, who got the job this summer after three years as an assistant coach under Stefan Koch. The American coach talked to Eurohoops about the series with Alba, the character of his team and his first season as head coach in the German league.
– Coach, what do you need to change in order to bring back the series in Berlin and have one more chance to win and qualify to the finals?
“We have to do a better job and have a better reaction in Berlin’s pressure. They did a good job in this part of the game and we had a lot of turnovers (19), while we had just 6 assists. We must be more aggressive in the game and have more energy on both parts, defense and offense”.
– Dragons didn’t have full control in any of the three games, but in each game you were in the position to “steal” it in the end, as you did once in Game 2…
“I could disagree with you because I think in the second game we were really good in this part. We were dominating the game. Berlin had a good second quarter and a 6-7 points advantage, but in the remaining three quarters we were really tough and we played our game. We had a good game in our home, we were strong. In general, our come back shows that we have a strong character as a team. Of course, nobody wants to lose. We had our chance to take Game 3, but we didn‘t manage to for second time in Berlin. They were better than us. We were not good offensively, but we came back because of our defense”.
– In general American coaches don’t prefer to foul at the end when we have a 3 points game. Dragons had a really big chance to get the home advantage, but you didn’t foul in last possession (ed. note: finally they did on the shot).
“I am an American, but I live in Europe for many years and I know the European mentality. We wanted to foul. The instruction was that. We did a mistake but we can’t cry about it anymore, we look ahead now”.
– It is a timeless question if you foul or not in this case. It’s a constant decision or it depends on the momentum of the game?
“I will not answer this question because then coach Sasa Obradovic will know what I am going to do in the future in a similar case (laughs). In this case we wanted to foul, but this is the game. Everyone can make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes, players make mistakes, referees make mistakes. Everyone”.
– This is your first year as a head coach, but in a familiar environment to you. I imagine this made your life easier..
“I am happy and thankful because I am part of this club and I had the opportunity to work as an assistant coach with Stefan Koch. It was a smooth transition for me because I knew the members of the team, the manager, some of the players were the same. It was clearly easier for me to be a head coach in this environment. Generally, Dragons is a great club for a young coach and his start”.
– The season is not over yet, but I would like a comment on your first year as head coach.
“Our goal was to be in playoffs, so it’s already a successful season for us. But of course, no one wants to lose. We still have our possibilities in this semifinals series.. During the season we were very high in the standings, but the last week we had some defeats and finally we are here. I think this is an important achievement for us – as a staff, I am not alone – and our first season. I think that we had a good result and we played good basketball this season”.