Is your team ready for the Euroleague?Sasa Obradovic: Momentum is important and always different. In the league, at the start of the season, we sometimes stop playing when the advantage is important, like against Dijon (88-74) on Tuesday evening. We play at high intensity occasionally defensively. I felt the players were preparing for Valencia. But I am sure that the state of mind will be different from the championship. We know what we have to do, how we have to play. If we follow our plan, we should be fine. The players can’t wait to get started, you can feel it. A crucial match lies before us. However, we will still be missing one of our best players from last season, Jordan Loyd. With him, things would certainly have been easier. But we must do without it, as we must do without all our wounded (Kemba Walker and Mam Jaiteh, Editor’s note). If everyone was present, this start of the season would be easier to manage (eleven matches in October, Editor’s note). But that’s how it is. We will use all our collective strength to win.
Everyone is waiting for you now…We became the target because of our success last season. We are more monitored. This can give strength or put pressure. But that doesn’t matter to me. I focus on preparing for each match. It doesn’t matter if the basis of the team has remained the same and the players know how to play together, our opponents now know our strengths and weaknesses. They haven’t changed. Even if it is easier for me to prepare for a match because I know my men, and I know what to expect from the opposing coach, everything will depend on our physical level and our ability to concentrate. I hope we will develop these two elements throughout the match in Valencia, a more mobile, more experienced and better team than last season.
How does it feel to go from Tom Thumb to one of the competition favorites? People can say whatever they want. Why would we be more favored than the other Top 8 teams from last season? Everyone is talking about the big signing of Kemba (Walker). But Kemba has not played yet. We will see in the future how this will happen. Everything happens on the ground. So, talking about favorite now doesn’t mean anything. Whether we’re a target or not, let’s get on the floor and just play our basketball!
