By Amy Samin
The 2012 Adriatic League Final is rapidly approaching. The two finalists, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv and Cedevita Zagreb held a pre-game press conference attended by head coaches David Blatt and Dražen Anzulović, and team captains Tal Burstein and Chris Warren.
David Blatt said, “We’re thankful to have the opportunity to take part in a game between the two best teams in this league. Without question Maccabi and Cedevita were the two most dominant teams in the league. Cedevita has played basketball at the highest level. They won the Croatian Cup and have qualified for the Euroleague. It’s a great organization with an excellent coach and a great team of players.”
“We’re playing at home, we’re here and we’re ready. We respect all of our opponents; we’ve come into each game with the same approach, the same sense of commitment and obligation to win and to play well, not only in the Adriatic League, but in every league we’ve played in. Every final four is something special, it all comes down to one game, and there’s no doubt we’ll need to be at our best, and we will do our best to beat this great team. We’re really looking forward to it.”
Maccabi’s team captain Tal Burstein added, “We want to congratulate Cedevita on qualifying for the final, like us they had a great season up to now. We have a lot of respect for their team and their club. We played against them during the regular season and they were tough games, we only beat them in overtime and we give them a lot of credit.”
“In order to win we’ll need to come in sharp and be mentally prepared. We’ve had a very long season with the Adriatic, the Euroleague, and the Israeli League, and we’re coming into this game with the chance of winning a championship. We think we deserve it, and we’re going to work hard for it.”