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DKV Joventut
Head Coach
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GARCIA RENESES, AITO
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"I am happy for having made it through to the semifinals, but unhappy for the second half we played, which was lamentable. We started well despite Lubos Barton, a key player for us, being on the bench with some physical problems. We got through that start with a player who has few minutes of experience, really. But our team responded, with everyone helping, even though Rudy Fernandez was off form a bit after two early fouls. Without him and later with him, the team responded really well, and I especially liked the way Jerome Moiso and Demon Mallett played so well, as much on offense as on defense. We have a lot of good things going for us, like you saw in the first quarter and we saw many times during the season. But other things aren't so good, as when we have a dip, which all teams have. But instead of going down to 80 percent of our normal level and trying to maintain there, we down to 40 percent and were incapable during all the second half of playing at a dignified level. Fortunately for us, Pamesa didn't have a good third quarter, or we would have been in trouble. You can play bad sometimes, but not so badly as we played in the second half. That worries me, but coaches worry about lot of things. At the same time, have to balance what we're doing overall, and that assessment is positive. We won all the tournaments we've been in until now - the Catalan League before the season, the King's Cup in Spain - and we're in the semifinals of the ULEB Cup now. We won a lot until now, so even though I worry, after winning the cups that we have so far, we have to recognize what these players have done and in the global view I believe they have played very well."
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DKV Joventut
Guard
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RIBAS, PAU
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"We speculated too much. We did fine at the beginning as we took a good advantage, but we tried to keep it and not rush things up. And that is not our style and it could have cost us. The game between Besiktas and Galatasaray was decided in the last play and that shows how strong teams both are. However if we play like we did in the first half today we should be fine. But if we play like in the sceond, we will be travelling home soon."
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DKV Joventut
Guard
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MALLET, DEMOND
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"It was a tough game. Pamesa is a good team. We played well in the first half but we played horrible in the second, we made some stupid decisions. We didn't go woth the things that we had done in the first half, but we won. I am thankful but we have to do better next time. Galatasaray is a good team, we can't take them for granted. We have to do the things we normally do and that's playing defense and everything else will come in the floor."
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DKV Joventut
Guard
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LAVIÑA, FERRAN
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"The score is better than we expected but our play in the second half was awful. We did what we didn't have to, in the first half we did great and got a great score. But after that we speculated and that is not the way we have to play. That's not our style and that way we can lose any game. We saw the game between Besiktas and Galatasaray and both played intense. Looking at their ULEB Cup season it was clear that any of them could win the game and there was that close ending. Now we have to rest tomorrow, get our game back and think about our mistakes. On Saturday we have to try to win and most of all, give a better image of our team."
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Pamesa Valencia
Head Coach
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KATSIKARIS, FOTIOS
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"What hurt us was a loss of confidence based on the decisions we took. The whole game was one in which we couldn't make our layups inside with the big men and that, in turn, affected our defense a lot. It gave us bad balance on defense, with not enough coverage in transition, and it was very difficult to stop them that way. It's not right to say we gave up. The team wanted to win, wanted to compete. This is an important tournament for us. I don't know exactly what happened. It's very difficult to explain, but like I said, tactically we had no balance in our game. At the same time, it's not easy to control the game mentally against a team like DKV Joventut. We took bad decisions, couldn't defend and let them score easily. I think all our guys have pride, every player on Pamesa, and in a challenge like this tournament, it's not necessary to push people to give them confidence. I want to see how my team does until the end of the season before drawing conclusions. What I can say is that every game is a game of tactics and strategy. A game can change according to what happens, and it happened to us the wrong way. We started strong, playing well, and then without any reason, everything changed. We couldn't score, couldn't stop them in transition, and it continued to get worse, as seems to happen in games like this."
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Pamesa Valencia
Forward
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TIMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS
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"We cannot relax against a team like DKV Joventut, it is a team able to do string runs and this is what they did tonight. It is hard to recover for 20 points down. We kept trying in the fourth quarter but it was too late. It was a good try, but we ran out of time. We want to put ourselves in the best position possible in the Spanish League playoffs and try to reach the finals. We are in a good position in Spain and will try to do our best."
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Pamesa Valencia
Forward
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MILOJEVIC, DEJAN
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"The end of the first quarter and the entire second quarter where the keys to the game. Joventut did very well in those minutes and this is the reason why Joventut was up by 18 at halftime. It was enough for Joventut to control the game. We woke up a little bit late, made some shots in the fourth quarter but it is not enough to beat a team like Joventut. We now want to do our best in the Spanish League, go one step further and see what we can do."
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Pamesa Valencia
Guard
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WILLIAMS, SHAMMOND
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"Once again, our defense wasn-t what we needed it to be. We had a nice game plan but unfortunately, we were not able to overcome the deficit we got in the first half. Individual statistics and great individual games does not mean much. I wanted to win this game but unfortunately we did not get our job done. I know we are a better team than we showed. For some reasons, we are not able to put out 40 minutes. We put out 25 or 30 minutes we not all 40 minutes and it costs us sometimes."
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