By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
As the top seed in the Playoffs bracket of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Real Madrid got the winner of the last Play-In contest in familiar foe Baskonia. A best-of-five series, carrying a prize of a berth in the Final Four, tips off in WiZink Center on Tuesday.
“We get to these playoffs eager to face the final stretch of the season and eager to play well. We all start from scratch, and I hope we can meet expectations at all times during this series. We know how hard this final stretch is and how hard is the opponent we will be playing against,” explained head coach Chus Mateo.
“We face the challenge with energy and optimism,” he added previewing the series against the team based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, “Baskonia has many scorers, they are a difficult match and a team that plays very well. They have the character, the hustle, the fight and they always come back into the games when it looks like they are defeated. We will have to be ready for that and more.”
All players are projected to be available, including the league leader in blocks Vincent Poirier.
“The most exciting part of the season is here and we are really happy to face it,” underlined the 30-year-old French center, “There are five games and if we do not start well we will have to keep fighting. We must be together, believe, and do our thing, which is what we did last year.”