Ibon Navarro He appeared at a press conference after Unicaja’s victory against Joventut (113-91). Despite always having his feet on the ground, the coach was very happy with the team’s evolution in certain aspects such as rebounding or assists and wanted to highlight how difficult and competitive the Endesa League is going to be this season.
Match rating
“Congratulate the team for the victory. I think we played a good game against a very good opponent, they were very successful. It may seem that neither of the two teams were not good at the back, but that is quite a credit to the good attack. Highlights for us are the assists and the 56% offensive rebound. I think it’s outrageous to get 9 of 25 rebounds on his rim. We have recovered Tyler there, who gives us many rebounds on offense, and Will. Many people have helped a lot. Kameron has had 7 assists. Kendrick made his first three-point shot in the fourth quarter, he made sure that all the players felt important. We have been playing keys and we have improved in many things, but it is a game and we have to continue. This week we have done very good work. I don’t think today’s game is due to this week’s. We had already been working well. We have to be happy, but it’s a game“.
Next meetings
“We have a complicated match this week in Hungary in the BCL. I won’t even tell you about Sunday when we visit Baskonia.”
Release
“I don’t think it will be easy to have the shooting percentages that we have had, especially in the first half in the situation we were in. That speaks a lot about the team’s confidence in what it does… when it does it. If it does what what he is capable of doing, we are capable of playing at many things: at 60 points, at 100… the team has that confidence. It is not easy to demonstrate it and it speaks well of the maturity of the team. I told you that the first victory was going to being ugly, I was wrong. I think we still have many things to improve, especially at the back, but the team has taken a weight off their shoulders. Not for the result or the victory, but for seeing themselves capable of doing again the things they know they are capable of doing, see ourselves recognizable again“.
Assists
“It has a lot of merit that in the situation we were in, with players who were outside that level of confidence, they contributed today. Others who have that level have seen themselves with fewer minutes, but they have contributed. We are a team that is based on moodwhen it flows and does things well and finds itself… 30 assists is outrageous, they seem like a lot to me. It speaks well of the team’s choral play. We have many quality players who, in that state of flow, join the party. Everything comes from behind. We have not been bad, but there are things that we had talked about that we have done well. I am clear that some can throw their hands at Tomic’s 17 points. Let him look at the assists. “It was a priority that I didn’t feed others.”
The expectations
“Last year was a very favorable situation based on what had come before because expectations were very low. Nothing we did would be good. On a mental level it was very easy to keep people happy and that puts very little pressure on you. This year is the opposite, but the league is different. It’s a little early, but we’ll see how many wins the last 5 teams have this year and how many last year. The medium-low level is better than last year. past and I think that we have to take that into account. We are not a team that can live off the past. Dying of success is a problem. Always thinking about 2005/2006 is a problem. Last year is over, this year is a new one. Are they the same players? Yes, but the team is not the same and the rivals are not the same“.
David Kravish
“He was loaded with fouls, I think some of them were a little late. The shots are fine, they are the ones he didn’t make the other day. He has already been training for two more weeks. The dynamism that he gives us, with the ball in his hands, opens up many spaces for us to penetrate. It is something that is differential for us. We need him because he gives us a series of facilities in attack… Yankuba is different. Defensively, David learned how we wanted to defend and he has it very much assimilated.”
Hubby
“Today Carpena was spectacular, today I saw them push. It’s good. We all realize that it is better to go another way. The team and the fans have realized it. When the pavilion is like this, we are a very screwed team“.