Chus Mateo, the coach of the current EuroLeague champions, spoke to the media after the 16th-round game of the elite competition against Partizan.
Real Madrid, as it turned out, secured their 15th victory out of 16 games in the elite competition without much difficulty. They gained a double-digit lead relatively early, and the question of the winner was resolved after 30 minutes of play when they held a 25-point advantage. The scoreboard at WiZink Center ultimately showed 91:75.
“We looked good, a very good team. We will probably meet them again in the remaining part of the season. It is always better when players understand each game to the maximum and maintain focus. We had a discussion in the locker room, and we all agree to always think only about the next game. There’s no need to look too far into the future; we have a very long journey ahead,” said Chus Mateo in the opening part of his statement and continued:
“We were focused from the first to the last moment. We played smart, but they play very well. I think they have a chance for the Final Four. They know how to use their advantages and can threaten from every position. They came here after five consecutive wins. As for us, defensively, we responded very well; we were on every ball. In offense, the ball moved as it should, we had 25 assists, which is indicative of that. We controlled the rebound and found different ways to score points.”
“When we play this dynamically, no one can ask any questions. We train every day, fight every day, and my players are truly hungry for victories. I want to congratulate them on that. They are very good and smart players, paying a lot of attention to details and knowing what we need to work on.”
On Kevin Punter‘s performance?
“We wanted to put good defenders on him; Kevin Punter wasn’t at his level. When he is, you can’t defend that. You had the chance to see that in previous seasons. Fabien Causeur and Sergio Rodriguez played very good defense on him. Team defense gives us extra strength; it wasn’t just individuals guarding him, but the whole team,” explained Chus Mateo.