Eurocup. BC Khimki vs. Gran Canaria29 april 2015

In the second Eurocup finals game BC Khimki destroyed Spanish side Herbalife Gran Canaria — 83-64 (27-18, 18-12, 23-16, 15-18) and clinched the Eurocup trophy for the second time in its history. We'll play in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague next season! We did it!

BC Khimki: Augustine (18 + 2 steals), Davis (16 + 10 rebounds + 3 steals + 2 assists), Rice (16 + 6 assists + 3 rebounds), Koponen (13 + 5 rebounds + 4 assists), Vyaltsev (7 + 3 rebounds + 2 assists), Sheleketo (5 + 6 rebounds), Popovic (2 + 7 assists + 2 steals), Pateev (2 + 2 rebounds), Monya (2 + 4 rebounds), Ilnitsky (2).

Photogallery: BC Khimki vs. Herbalife Gran Canaria

POST-GAME QUOTES

Aito Garcia Reneses, Herbalife Gran Canaria head coach:

"First, I want to congratulate Khimki. They deserved to win; they played an incredible final. It’s sad to lose a final, but this is not a time to be sad. This is a time to evaluate the season. We reached the Eurocup Finals and to be the Eurocup runner-up is something very, very important. This is not the time to look at the mistakes we made during the game, but a moment to improve and for Herbalife Gran Canaria to be in the finals is a great success. Khimki has a very quick team; it is very difficult to defend them. They are a very strong team. And they have great shooters and were making three-pointers even when we played great defense. That makes a big difference".

Brad Newley, Herbalife Gran Canaria forward:

"We tried hard. Once again we made some mistakes and they cost us the match. We’re a small club and today we showed Europe that we can play with the best. Unfortunately, the last two games didn’t go as planned, but we have to move forward. It was a great season for the club. Now everybody knows who Gran Canaria are and we want to keep it that way".

Rimas Kurtinaitis, BC Khimki head coach:

"I want to thank my players for the big effort they put out in both games. Game 1 was a perfect one for us. Game 2 was a little bit easier due to the 25-point lead we had from the game in Gran Canaria. It was not as complicated as Game 1, but it was not easy to motivate my players to play Game 2. It was a great result and defense really made the difference in this series. We allowed Gran Canaria to score 66 points in Game 1 and 64 tonight. The final result does not show what a great team Gran Canaria is. They paid a high price in this series for their lack of experience. I believe that with an experienced coach like Aito Garcia Reneses, they won't have much problems to go back to the Spanish League playoffs. They are a much better team than what they showed in these two games".

Tyrese Rice, BC Khimki guard:

"I thought we defended really well playing against a team that really likes to move the ball. Playing big and backdoor cuts and all these things. I thought we defended really well for two games by holding them to only 66 and 64 points and you know, the way we play, we can score against pretty much anybody. So this was, I think, the turning point in the series. We did exactly what we needed to do. We took care of our business and ended up on top. We take every game seriously. We don’t look at point spread or margin or anything like that. We go game by game and we want to win. Preparing ourselves for this game wasn’t hard because of the mentality of our players and the mentality of our coaches. They don’t expect anything less of us, so we know we have to come out here and win the game. To come out here and lose by 20 points wouldn’t have given us satisfaction. We wanted to come here and win and make a statement that we belong here and that we belong in the Euroleague".

Petteri Koponen, BC Khimki guard:

"I won a couple championships in Finland; I won Euro Challenge, now Eurocup. Next step Euroleague. It always feels great! You never get used to winning. It’s a long season, long road. Of 44 teams, we are the best. And it’s always best to win the championship in front of our great fans".

Egor Vyaltsev, BC Khimki guard:

"It’s incredible. Everybody is happy. For me it’s very important to do this. God blessed us. We were going for this all year and it was hard work. I love my family, they prepared me for this: my mother and father, my beautiful wife and child. I want to thank everybody, the staff, the club, the people who came. This is very important for us".

Paul Davis, BC Khimki center:

"We said in the locker room after the first game, ‘we’re gonna stay focused all week.’ We didn’t want to play into this lead, because with a team like that, anything can happen. We did what we wanted to do. We played it like it was a championship game 0-0. It didn’t matter who we played; we were on a mission all year and we finally accomplished it. I’ve been on the other side and I remember it was a terrible feeling. So I wanted to do everything I could and I think every guy had their own role. Every guy here deserved the cup and we got it".

James Augustine, BC Khimki forward:

"We played great as a team. We wanted to be champions and we played both games great. We showed a lot of heart. They played good, but we played really hard, we played great. We had a tough time last year when we lost in the first round, and every round was hard for us. But we fought through some hard times. We have a great team, a great coaching staff, great fans and it worked out for us".