POST-GAME

Georgios Bartzokas, BC Khimki head coach:

“Today we ended our season in EuroLeague with the way it happened. I think we showed huge progress during the season, playing as a team, and playing four tight games against CSKA, the best team in the competition. In the end of this game, all the details were against us. We started the game with a completely wrong approach. It is normal, because there was a lot of pressure today, and this is a new team that sometimes does not know how to handle the pressure, to calm down to control the emotions and to play smart. During halftime, we were down by 13 points, we talked a lot, and we played a completely different game in the second half. Both teams deserved to win tonight, but as I said, at the end of the game, everything was against us. We first made a very quick foul on a player we should not foul, Rodriguez. Then we missed one free throw, and Higgins made a very difficult shot.Then, at the end of the game, what happened with the [substitution] box. What I want to say, I asked for a sub for defense. Shved had 4 fouls, and I had Honeycutt in the [substitution] box for defense. Since we could not make this sub because we missed the second free throw, I pulled Honeycutt back. So, we immediately made an outlet [pass], we scored a layup and, I don’t know why, they asked us to make the sub. Although, at the end of the game, we didn’t have a sub. So I don’t understand, if he had to sub, why they accepted not to sub a player, because we continued with the same lineup. It is rare and weird, but it is what it is. We have to congratulate CSKA and wish them good luck at the Final Four. They have a great team and they deserve to be there. But I have to be proud of my team. I want to thank all our fans, and congratulate the club for the organization of games here. I think we created new fans of basketball, and new fans of our team, here, one hour away from Khimki. From our side, we gave everything this season. We made the playoffs, and in this entire series, although no one expected us to compete and to fight, we did it four games in a row. I have to tell everyone in the club we must be proud, and let’s continue working like this, and next year I hope we are going to be better”.