Thous Vidorreta’s words after elimination in the semi-finals against Barça

Txus Vidorreta He appeared at a press conference after Lenovo Tenerife’s defeat to Barca in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.

These were his words:

“We knew they would be very motivated. They did not appear in the pool as winners for almost none of those who expressed their opinion in ACB basketball, and when Barcelona does not appear there, it becomes clear that in such a semi-final they will lose and even more so. when Real Madrid won comfortably. They are very good players and are used to playing in such tournaments.

After a bad start we finished the first quarter with an advantage, but then we fell apart and there is no excuse for that. We must be able to compete better. We may not be able to beat a team like Barca in the semi-finals and on a day like today, but we can compete better. This second quarter was one to forget and Barca were very successful but dominated time, they managed to score by stealing the ball. We’ve made it very easy for you. Barça’s merit? Yes, when a team scores 40 points and gets +32 in a quarter, this is their merit, but we also contributed to making the semi-finals more calm for them than we would like.

There are 650 games in the Endesa League, and in professional terms for sure more than 1500. I have seen them in all colors and I made my debut in the Endesa League, losing by 47, and that Wednesday they won in Badalona against the Joventut team, which was a great team. Go from point to point, play and show what kind of team we are. It’s going to be difficult because we’re probably not in the best emotional state after this disaster in the previous 10 minutes, but we had to keep going. We need to take stock, and today I’m upset with the result. I have to sum up the last few years: all the semi-finals we have played and the seven teams for some reason will leave this Cup unhappy. The seven of us who lose always have some reason to be unhappy, and only one comes out happy. Whoever wins leaves happy, and we take stock of the 6 weeks that brought us here and live day by day. Yesterday is not worth it to me if we have our worst 10 minutes of the season. We’ll have to work on this.

Our fans are of course very proud of us. Real Madrid and Barça are several points ahead of the rest of the Endesa League teams. While it is always very difficult to defeat them, it is easier to surprise them on the first day when you have prepared the game and come in fresh. Such frequent play is intended for players of different physical profiles and costs money that we do not have. But regardless, we should be able to do better. We usually don’t go as low as we did in the second quarter. That’s why our fans are proud of us and we’re happy with the work we do. Playing in 7 semi-finals and a final in 10 seasons for Lenovo Tenerife is impressive, and in recent years there has only been one year without semi-finals. Today we did not manage to get a lead, because, of course, in such a match it is more difficult to surprise the Barca team.

At 2 o’clock in the morning we were engaged in restoration work. The Spanish Cup is structured as follows. Since I’m saying this and no one is paying attention to me, I won’t say it anymore, let’s see if we ever look for an opportunity to make this a little more open to everyone. Last year was an exception: we played in the final between Unicaja Malaga and Lenovo Tenerife, and I thought it was time to point out that, more than 20 years later, change is needed. I’m not going to say this anymore.

Today they called me and said that four games need to be played on Thursday, the semi-finals on Saturday and the final on Sunday. Since they don’t buy things from me for the day… It’s not my idea… And everyone would be equal. But I won’t insist, nothing will be touched. What I’m saying is that Barça played very well and we certainly would have played yesterday against Barça because we would have made the game as difficult as BAXI Manresa or as difficult as we made it against Unicaja Malaga, which we eventually beat. And if we had lost, which I regret for the Spanish basketball fans, I am sure that today’s game would have been better, because at the sporting level, Unicaja Malaga is better than us.

acb Photo/A. Arrizabalaga