Eurocup. Final. BC Khimki — Lietvios Rytas quotes 5  april  2009

Eurocup
Final Game 15 — April 05, 2009 — PALASPORT OLIMPICO
POST-GAME QUOTES
Lietuvos Rytas80 — 74BC Khimki
BC Khimki Head Coach
SCARIOLO, SERGIO


"First of all, I want to congratulate Lietuvos Rytas on their win. They played a great tournament and they've been patient tonight. They are a very experienced, veteran, smart team. They believed that they would find the right moment, they didn’t let their arms down when they were down in the score. They kept fighting and playing and deserved it in the last minutes. From our side, I can say obviously we cannot be happy now. The last quarter I don't know if we ran out of gas or we just played not to lose, instead of playing to win. I haven't spoken with the players yet, so I don't have the answer to this question. It's clear that after 32 or 33 minutes of playing well, we lost our focus. The only regret we have is that possibly we got to this Final Eight a little short in a few players. The change of date sure didn't help us recover players who were out for so many months up to last week. But I don't want to say anything that could be used as an excuse. Lietuvos Rytas won. We feel we are going up, building something ambitious and solid for the future. We will now refocus and start to prepare strong for the Russian League playoffs, because I believe that the way to the Euroleague is still open. We have another chance in the Russian Superleague, and we will use it for sure."

"In the fourth quarter, we were not really aggressive, not really going to the basket strong, a little slow and not moving the ball quickly. We got to the final seconds of the possession without creating danger to their defense. But that wasn't the main problem. The main problem is that Lietuvos Rytas scored 27 points in the last quarter. That was the number one thing. We made a few really stupid defensive mistakes. We didn't play that aggressive. Giving up 27 points in the last quarter very seldom goes with winning the game."


BC Khimki Forward
McCARTY, KELLY

"It's very tough to lose this game. You get here, you play three games in three days and play your heart out. We played hard and executed our game plan. But they made shots and we didn't, and that was the difference. It wasn't something like that in the beginning we played great and they play bad, and in the end they playd great and we played bad — it was a great game throughout, a championship game. We knew it was going to be tip for tap. It came down to the last quarter, where they made shots and we missed some, they got some offensive rebounds and we didn't. We were also in the penalty early, so every foul counted. All those things took in the play. Somebody got to loose, and somebody got to win. To be a great winner you have to be a great looser. I definitely think we'll learn something from this game and it won't be our last time being here."


BC Khimki Guard
PALACIO, MILT


"Down the stretch, we didn't play defense like we should have. That was the biggest thing right there. They hit a couple of shots, but we knew they were going to do that, and yet we didn't respond by playing defense. They've got toughness and they hit some big shots. I am very, very, very disappointed. Especially because we were winning for the whole game and had a 13-point lead late in the game. It's very disappointing."


BC Khimki Forward
GARBAJOSA, JORGE


"They raised their intensity during the fourth quarter and surprised us a bit. They hit some big shots in the end and managed to get back to the game with outstanding defense, switching really well. They managed to stop our defense. We paid a high price for a lack of physical condition in the fourth quarter amd did not manage to match the intensity they had right when it mattered. There are no excuses, they played better and I want to congratulate them."

Source http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/ulebcup/competition/resu...