Chus Mateo: “We're doing a very good job mentally”
“I'm pleased because we've had to play three games this week and we've won all of them,” said the coach after the victory over Bàsquet Girona.
Real Madrid coach Chus Mateo analysed his team’s victory over Bàsquet Girona at the WiZink Center. The coach had the following to say after the matchday 21 clash in the Liga Endesa: "I'm pleased because we've kept up the effort and concentration. We're doing a very good job mentally and I commend the team for that. It's not only the physical aspect that counts, but also the mental aspect of the day-to-day work, scoring points at times and having to concentrate. When the motivation isn't as high as for a big occasion, we try to motivate ourselves by sticking to our work, thinking that we're going to try to do the best we can for ourselves, for the club and for the fans.”
"We have two good weeks left to work on this aspect before the Copa (del Rey). It's impossible not to think that the EuroLeague teams are more worn out, so we try to make the squads as big as possible. Recently, we've had a very difficult time with injuries, we've had a lot of people injured at the same time. That has an impact on those who are fit. We have recovered two players this week and I hope that we'll soon recover the other two so that we have all 16.”
Development of the game
"It wasn't an easy match, Girona competed really well, one of the best sides we've played here at times. I'm pleased because we've had to play three games this week and we've won all of them. We didn't settle at any time because they competed very well."
"Though at the end of the second quarter they found situations that might have hurt us and they had some outside success, I think we improved defensively in the second half and we did well in this aspect. We made 25 passes and recovered 10 balls.”
Poirier’s role
“He's doing really well, contributing so much in attack and defence. Today we needed him, he was instrumental in being able to provide the defence that we needed to carry out. We lacked intimidation and that kind of understanding of pick-and-roll defence that he has, with some adjustments at half-time, helped us a lot. I'm pleased for him. He works really hard, calmly, he doesn't complain much, he's a good teammate and everyone is happy that things are going well for him. The important thing is to keep on winning, to be prepared for the two games before the cup."