The first of two important matches, the Buducnost Voli basketball players failed to win, but the applause from the "Morača" stands after the defeat against Red Star perhaps best illustrates that the "blue and white" gave their all even though they have an even more important match waiting for them in 48 hours.
After a great fight, the Podgorica team had to congratulate the "red and whites" on their victory in the last match of the first phase of the Admiralbet ABA League (93:80).
"Every defeat is better, but the audience was extraordinary and showed that they know how to appreciate the fight and the right approach. They proved that with the applause at the end of the game. With this approach, we will have more and more fans, I'm sure," said Andrej Žakelj, coach of Buducnost, at a press conference.
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On Wednesday (19pm), his team plays against Burg - a victory means 3rd place before the playoffs and home court advantage in the playoffs.
"A very important game in two days. You can never tell players to stop for a while, even if the game is tomorrow. Professionals, competitors, want to win, especially against an opponent like Red Star. As a coach, I tried to distribute the minutes and save them that way. I think we succeeded a lot in that. Only Ferel played 26 minutes, the others 20 or less minutes. It will be difficult for us to regenerate and prepare, but we knew that and we have to do everything to be at the level on Wednesday," explained Žakelj.
He says about the match with Red Star:
"I think we started as planned, maybe a little softer on defense, we had some problems with the pick-and-roll, with one-on-ones. However, we corrected everything with our energy on offense."
After an excellent first quarter, there was a big drop in the second.
"A slump followed, teams like this punish every mistake and it's not easy to maintain continuity against a team like Red Star. We came back with desire and energy, but a few rebounds in the opponent's attack and second or even third chance baskets turned the game around. We have nothing to fault the players for, they fought, wanted to win, played as a team - with this approach we can play with teams like this," the Slovenian expert emphasized.
At the end, he had a message for his rival, but also once again for the fans.
"Congratulations to Red Star, but also to our fans. All the best to them, the atmosphere was top-notch - it's nice to play in front of such an audience," concluded Žakelj.
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