Real Madrid

The first leg of the regular season has just finished and you are leaders in the league, having won every home game…

We’re in the position we wanted to be in and it’s true we’ve won every home game so far, losing only a couple of games on the road. We’ve achieved our objectives against solid teams.

Results are good and the team’s style is thrilling the fans.

We’re very happy about that, but the most important thing for us is to win our games. We want to be leaders in the league and to keep our options open in the Euroleague. We know we’ll play very difficult games this season. Defeating Unicaja was very important to us and we’re about to face Siena. We all know how Montepaschi plays. We’ve faced them in recent years and each encounter is tougher than the previous ones. We nevertheless believe we can reach the Final Four again this year.

Many of your teammates have said they enjoy playing in this style. Do you have fun as well?

Of course I do. It’s obvious our style is different to last year’s and it’s beneficial to the team given the players we have. We can all take a major step playing this way.

Your performances have been improving throughout the campaign. Did it take you a little longer to adapt?

It’s true I had to adapt to new systems at the start of the season, but everything is fine now for me.

You faced Siena in the Top 16 and Final Four last year. Two teams in your group reached the Final Four as well.

As I said, we played many games against them in the last two or three seasons. It’s going to be a difficult game for us, but also for them.

It seems every team that faces you in Madrid sustains injuries, but all those who are meant to be injured eventually play. Kaukenas and Lavrinovic will not play against you, but Siena do well even when they sustain injuries.

They have a very good roster and they’ve always had the same coach. He hardly makes changes to the team, making only one or two signings per season. We know the style they play in. I think stopping their counterattacks will be key. Bo McCalebb is someone we’ll have to stop.