By Javier Molero/ jmolero@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid faces its toughest week of the season so far. Sergio Scariolo’s team, coming off a EuroLeague loss to Baskonia last Friday, will travel to Piraeus and Istanbul to take on the top two teams in the standings.
The game against Olympiacos (Tuesday, July 7) will be crucial for the team’s position in the standings and their final position. The Italian coach spoke before these crucial days for the team.
“It’s an extremely difficult game, against the number one team in the EuroLeague right now, with great players. It’s a team where most of the core players have been playing together for a long time, with the same coach, with players who play very good basketball, with great individual talent but also a strong sense of teamwork,” he told the media on Monday at the training complex.
“The goal is to go out and play with the same attitude, preparation, and personality that we have had during all the away games in recent months, but obviously if it becomes a close game, we need to be more accurate, sharp, and attentive, so that this time we can take the game to our side,” he added about the final stretch.
“It will be an extremely difficult game, the kind we love to play, and the players will be… as always, because I can’t remember an away game where we weren’t prepared or where we didn’t play 90 percent well or very well. Against a very strong opponent, that alone adds to the difficulty,” he said about their rival, Olympiacos.
He doesn’t want to look beyond Tuesday’s match, and he made that clear. “Like any athlete, we’re thinking about the next game. We’re thinking about tomorrow’s game and playing our best, knowing our strengths, which allow us, as we’ve shown in recent months, to go to any field and look any opponent in the eye. And we also respect the strength of our opponent, who are in first place on merit,” he explained.
“I’m extremely happy with how the team is playing away from home. Obviously, I’m not happy about having lost five games by one or two points, which is also a matter of chance. A referee’s decision, a defensive or offensive error, sometimes in the minutes leading up to the loss, you could have done more to prevent it from happening at the end—it’s a lot of things,” he told the media.
All this comes with the uncertainty surrounding the availability of Trey Lyles, who hasn’t played in the last two games. “He won’t be playing normally, but he’ll be there and will travel with the team, and if everything goes well, he’ll help us out a bit,” he explained.
“We’re not just thinking about winning the home game; we’re thinking about winning every game ahead of us. We have to go out and win the next one. The situation is so varied, so complicated, so numerous, that we have to think that the more games we win, the easier it will be. The schedule is tough, we’re not going to hide that, but we have to fight to maintain the position we’ve worked for, improved upon, competed for, and held onto for quite some time,” he concluded.