By Alex Molina /amolina@eurohoops.net
Barcelona center Jan Vesely believes his team is hitting top form at exactly the right time as the Blaugrana prepare to face Valencia Basket in the Liga Endesa Finals.
After navigating the playoffs with convincing performances in both the quarterfinals and semifinals, the veteran Czech big man said the team enters the championship series full of confidence, while acknowledging the challenge that awaits against one of the league’s standout teams.
“I think we are in a good moment,” Vesely said ahead of the Finals. “It’s against Valencia, so it’s going to be a good finals series. We are ready.”
Valencia arrive in the title series after an outstanding campaign and boast one of the deepest and most talented rosters in the competition. Vesely praised their quality but stressed that Barcelona’s priority must remain on its own identity and execution.
“They are a very talented team, they had an amazing season this year,” he said. “But we have to focus on ourselves, bring the same energy as we did in the quarter-final and semifinals series and build from there.”
For Vesely, the key to lifting the trophy lies in maintaining consistency throughout each contest.
“Controlling the rhythm, stay in the game all the time and be focused each game, for 40 minutes,” he said.
After a crazy season that included a change of head coach and not playing the Euroleague playoffs for the first time in ten years, Barcelona now stands just one series away from adding another Liga Endesa title, and Vesely underlined the significance of the opportunity after a season-long journey.
“We played all season to win a trophy,” he said. “We worked 10 months to be in this situation. Now we have 10 days in front of us, we are all excited and ready to play.”
Photo credit: ACB
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