Chus Mateo: “We fought hard and had chances to win”

Chus Mateo and Sergio Llull analysed what happened in the third game of the semi-final playoffs against Unicaja, played at the Martín Carpena. The coach said: "Congratulations to Unicaja for their victory. The game had two very different moments. One, when they put a lot of energy into it and pushed us far back, and we weren't able to control the turnovers. They scored a lot on the counterattack and under the basket without opposition. But just before the break and especially after, we pushed hard, mainly on defence, being more attentive and controlling the attacks much better.”
“We scored 50 points in the second half because we moved the ball better and were more patient to get back into the game. Then there was a moment when we were very close, but they were very accurate and pulled away again with a lead that we never considered definitive. We fought hard in the last quarter, we battled and held Unicaja to 16 points to give ourselves a chance to win. We had our chances and we were still in it in the last play of the game. We fought hard and it was very even. On Tuesday, we'll try to play well again, play better than them and get the win.”
Attitude
“We were behind on the scoreboard by a big margin at times, but we didn't give up. We fought and came back. We had a few shots to tie the game. We have to start much more focused than we did today. We fell into the trap of Unicaja's aggressive defence."
The unsportsmanlike foul
“If they called it unsportsmanlike, it's because they thought it was unsportsmanlike. The referees try to be unbiased and try to apply justice. I have nothing to say. Unicaja scored two more points than us and that's why they won the game.”
Is it a tense series?
“I'm playing a basketball game. I always try to play it down. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not putting any pressure on myself. I choose the style I want to play. When it comes to speaking with the referees, I try to understand them, understanding that they do everything with good intentions.”
Llull: “We were very close”
“It was a pity. We came back with pride, doing things well in the second half,  but here on their court, they rise to the occasion and you can't gift them 20 minutes. On Tuesday, we have to come out focused to try to take advantage of another opportunity to reach the final.”
“We have to stay focused and minimise their strengths. Today we lost a lot of balls, we let them run and they felt comfortable. Our minds are on Tuesday, we're not looking any further ahead. We know we're capable of winning here. Today we were very close, with those final decisions”.