At the end, Tomislav Mijatovic stated that he is proud of his team for everything they have shown in the previous period.
“Every game is specific, and the play-in is a particularly unique experience. We’re still hot-headed to make a detailed analysis. I made some bad decisions; that’s part of life, I accept the blame. At the beginning of the game, we scored easily, then struggled, then easily again, then struggled. They have experienced players like Belinelli, capable of scoring some points.
Every time you lose a game like this, you feel bad, no matter how many you’ve won before. I’m not just sad for myself but for all these people, I’m doubly sad. My son also finds this difficult. What can you do, we grow and progress. These guys showed us that there’s no giving up, no impossible, they didn’t give up, that’s why we are where we are.”
Mijatovic sees the cause of the defeat in the small mistakes made by Anadolu Efes, allowing Virtus to come back into the game.
“We were mostly in the lead, but our mistakes allowed the opponent to get back into the game. Of course, there’s a feeling of regret that we lost the game. You have to understand that nobody takes a shot intending to miss it. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you hit, sometimes you miss. It all happens.”
Virtus will compete for a spot in the playoffs against Baskonia, which earlier suffered a loss in Belgrade against Maccabi Tel Aviv.