Mateo responds to Hezonja: “We don’t like to air it if it’s criticism”
Chus Mateo emerged with a straight face after yet another loss to the team, following ACB’s surprise season opener against newly promoted Leima Coruña. He did not want to go into deep assessment of Hezonji’s harsh expressions, which usually go beyond the usual topics to criticize: “Defensively we started well, then we played with many players, but the rhythm changes so much, of course, it’s very difficult for new people to learn, and for us to gain chemistry. We will have to work hard to get anything done this season.” His response was conciliatory, but marked the territory: “If that’s the case, then I don’t know, we’re always, always together. I can understand a certain moment of frustration. But the things we need to talk about, we talk about them, We are not one of those who like to express criticism of anyone on air. Staying calm and continuing to work is what we have to do.”
The Madrid coach started congratulating his opponent: “Because he played a good game, he was able to beat us in many aspects of the game, especially in terms of energy in the first part,“ The locals, in his opinion, were able to gain an advantage: “Then we made an attempt to fight back, but when we were on the verge of promotion or relegation by a point, the match went to Bilbao, who did well to win.” He said that he did not expect such a first part, especially since it became known about it after the fiasco in La Coruña. “Our League is not easy, in any area. These defeats, like the defeats in Corunna and Munich, are lessons that we must learn well.” “It’s not easy for us to be away from home. From the first moment we had a presentiment that we would have to suffer, sweat a lot and not give out a dose of energy. “We can do a lot more than we did in the first half of the year,” he said.
For my part, Ponsarnau arrived at the event after playing one hundred games at the helm of Bilbao Basket four days ago. a career that allowed him to “live for great stories like today.” From this entire journey, he will retain in his retina this victory today and three other victories in the past season: over Barcelona with a three from Radicevic, over Baskonia with a long basket from Kullamae and a comeback (with a difference of 19 points) against Legia » in the IBA European Cup And when he encounters bad moments, he prefers to consign them to oblivion. “I always like the group, I have a lot, but this year there are even more,” he noted, especially highlighting the choral work. The Surnes met a lot, they destroyed Madrid. He praised the fact that the Merengue team never took the lead: “We were very worried that it wouldn’t affect us.”
“When they got close, the fact that our next attack was very good is noteworthy. “We have learned from what happened in Murcia,” he added, alluding to the fact that against UCAM they were conservatives by a large margin and “our energy has run out.” “Kullamae was clairvoyant, he understood the game and he was right. He is very demanding of himself and sometimes that is why he has some cloudiness. De Ridder is a pleasure to work with and coach him. This defensive and offensive offering makes us competitive,” he said.
Coach Tárrega He stressed that a “collective mentality” is the key to victory. “Today we will talk about Kullamae’s points, but most of all we need to talk about how the players defended and attacked together. This is the value of this year,” he added. “We reached the final draw without losing the initiative, we performed well in the free throw and in the rebound and won,” he concluded.
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