By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The weekend of domestic league cups delivered surprises all over Europe, with outsiders and underdogs making their way to different clubs’ glory. It happened in Spain with Unicaja, in Italy with Trento, and in Germany with Syntainics MBC.
It also happened in France, where Le Mans took down the early favorite AS Monaco, clearly better on paper than their opponents. However, the court showed a different result.
Expressing his anger in the post-game press conference, with declarations reported by L’Équipe, Vassilis Spanoulis was shown extremely disappointed. “We didn’t respect the game, we didn’t respect Le Mans. This attitude, and this behavior, which I had already observed in the past, led to this result,” he said.
“It’s my responsibility, as a coach, to change that. Le Mans had incredible statistics, they had nothing to lose, they made difficult shots, and everyone was happy because this result wasn’t expected. When you play with this spoiled child mentality, you see the result… It’s unacceptable.”
“I’ve been in basketball for 25 years and this behavior that we showed tonight doesn’t belong to my nature, not what I expect as a professional coach. I would give my life for this team and players, but now I have to make some decisions. Everyone has to look at themselves in the mirror. I want to play with players who really want to win,” Spanoulis added.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague