 Alba Berlin enters the Eurocup Finals eager to deliver its fans the club's first continental title in 15 years. For that to happen, it will need two more strong performances from trusty playmaker Rashad Wright. After playing for five teams in five countries during his first five seasons in Europe, Wright settled in with Alba, helping the team reach the Euroleague Top 16 last season and now advance to the Eurocup Finals. Just four seasons ago, Wright was a top-10 scorer in the Eurocup with 17.4 points per game for Oostende of Belgium. Now, he scores roughly half that amount, but has a major hand in running the team on both ends of the floor. Wright's influence as a scorer is still there, however, as one stat shows clearly: when he made a three-pointer this season, Berlin was 9-2 in Eurocup play. Nonetheless, Wright says there is one major key for Alba's title hopes in Vitoria. "I think togetherness is a key for us," he told Eurocupbasketball.com. "We know each other. We don't criticize when things aren't going well. We stick together, talk to each other, That's a big key in a big-time situation like this."
Hello, Rashad. Congratulations for reaching the Eurocup Finals. How does it to be part of the big event in Vitoria?
"It's a great feeling and one of the things we wanted to accomplish from the beginning of the season, when we missed the Euroleague qualification. So we're excited about going and looking forward to getting there and doing damage."
Speaking of those Euroleague Qualifying Rounds, how much of an adjustment was it afterwards to shift into the Eurocup?
"It wasn't really a difficult adjustment. There are a lot of good teams in the Eurocup, too. We were disappointed not to be in the Euroleague, but we jumped into our new group in the Eurocup and focused on competing in that from the beginning. We wanted from the start to try to win it all."
Alba opened the Eurocup season with two very narrow wins against Teramo at the buzzer and Azovmash by one point. How important were those?
"Those helped us out real big. If we hadn't won those games, we would have had a really tough road. That's what we expected going into the competition, though. We knew we had to work hard no matter how many points we were winning by. We had to build ourselves up as a team because sooner or later we knew we'd have tough games down the stretch like those two."
The next critical moment came in the Last 16, losing twice against Aris and knowing you had to beat Joventut in Badalona to qualify. How did you pull it off?
"I think we knew in our heads when we lost the first Aris game at home that our chance to qualify easy was gone. Then, we knew that playing at Aris was tough, and we lost that. So the, it was time. If we wanted to move on, we had to win in Badalona, just like the previous year in the Euroleague. It was the same situation, and they had the same thing on their minds, I'm sure. We just stayed focused, played a tough game, and in a tough situation, we pulled it out."
In the Quarterfinals, Alba cut a 19-point deficit to 6 in Jerusalem against Hapoel. Was that the key stretch of the series?
"We were telling each other to stay focused, take it one possession at a time. In timeouts, we emphasized getting control of the game, not letting them get scoring spurts. We knew if we let them run, it would a long night and hard to keep up with them at home. We had to work at our pace, slow down, take it play by play. We didn't give Jerusalem the chande to get out and run, and that helped a lot. It was very key for us in the end and gave us confidence to take the series in the second game."
You, of course, have a big role in that pacing the team needs. How do you manage it?
"We like to run, too, but we only want to run out of game situations, taking the opportunity when it's there. If it's not there, we have to control the pace and run our offense. We've been doing that balance toward the end of the season real well. We're not rushing and not letting other teams get in their comfort zone."
 You're semifinals opponent, Bilbao, will have thousands of fans in Vitoria. What do you have to do to overcome that advantage?
"It's going to be a tough environment. We have to be together as a team and stay focused on the court. If we do that, then it's just us against the other team, and no worries about excitement and adrenaline. We know that if we stay focused, it's hard to beat us. We have to dig down, get stops, and that helps us control the rest. When we get that going, we're hard to beat."
This is your sixth season in European basketball. What does being this close to a continental trophy mean to you?
"It feels real good to be in this position to win a European competition. Coming from the United States, I didn't know much coming over, but playing here a lot of seasons now, I understand how big it is for the team, the organization, the coaches, players and everybody to win a championship. It's a big deal, which is why we want to go out and take that trophy."
What will be the key for Alba this weekend in Vitoria?
"I think togetherness is a key for us. We know each other. We don't criticize when things aren't going well. We stick together, talk to each other, and that's a big key, being always together. Most of us went through the Euroleague together here last year, and are together all the time off the court, too, spending time with our families, so we know each other well. That's a big key in a big-time situation like this."
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