Coach Neven Spahija on the matchup against Nikola Milutinov: “We have good inside players that can play this matchup”. Tarik Black: “We expect them to come out exuberated and ready to play and we would do that as well”
“We’re playing against Olympiacos who lost their last game. We hope that Scottie will play, we cannot make the decision today we have to make it tomorrow. Scottie has some EuroLeague experience and to win the EuroCup and to be the MVP of the competition and having the team on his shoulders means a lot, also David Blatt was his coach at that time and I think these things help a lot to be one of the most important players in this team and in general in the EuroLeague”.
“I think everybody now realize that now the EuroLeague became like the NBA, no more surprises when someone wins even by 20 on the road, the number of games increased and travels, it’s like NBA conditions, before if it happened when the EuroLeague teams played in the group, then it would have been a big surprise, not anymore. Every game there’s something specific and we approach every game in the same way and seriousness and with a lot of details defensively and offensively”.
Coach Spahija also talked about Coach David Blatt: “We are friends for many years, for me it’s special because he is a big coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv and he is from here, but in general in this business, every second day there’s another game so the feeling is almost the same”. When asked about Nikola Milutinov’s ability as of late coach replied: “I think it’s not all about him, they have so many good players in the team, and we have to play team defense, I think we have good inside players that can play this matchup”.
When asked about Scottie’s potential absence from the game, Tarik Black said: “That’s what we did today in practice, working on it, figuring out plays and getting into new positions situated just in case. I’m gonna get up and down and play my game, I think I’ve had a good start to the season too so they have to stop me as well, we’re gonna play some basketball and it’ll be interesting to see who comes out. Everywhere is going to be tough, every gym is tough in the EuroLeague, everybody cheers for their team, everybody loves their team so we’re not expecting a light crowed or light energy and we expect them to come out exuberated and ready to play and we would do that as well”.
