Scariolo: “We need to reset because we have another game in 48 hours”
“We played really well in the first and third quarters, but in the second and fourth quarters we lost a bit of energy and clarity,” added the coach after the clash with Valencia Basket.
Sergio Scariolo analysed Real Madrid's performance at the Roig Arena against Valencia Basket on matchday 10 of the EuroLeague: “I'd like to congratulate Valencia Basket. Overall, they played with more energy, were very effective from the three-point line and ran the court well. Generally speaking, they deserved the win. We played very well when we came out of the dressing room, in the first and third quarters. In the even quarters, we lost a bit of energy and clarity.”
“Obviously, Tavares' fouls and the few minutes he was able to play took away a lot of our protection in the paint. We tried to produce a bit more of that, considering that we were conceding a lot of penetrations because they're very fast players and they have a lot of ball handlers on the court at the same time and they get into the paint easily. We tried a bit of zone defence. It worked well for us for most of the first half and less so at the end. We have to reset because we have another game in 48 hours.”
On the last attack before the break
“We called a timeout after the basket so we could set up a move. There were exactly 4.9 seconds left. I think the table granted it. The clock stopped. Or rather, it was stopped because the referee stops the clock. And the referee didn't see that the table officials had stood up to signal that he had called a timeout. They didn't stop the clock, and it kept running. That's what happened. We had five seconds to organise a move. There was some uncertainty and the players stopped because they saw the table official had stood up. There was confusion and in the end we couldn't organise an attack in the five seconds, which certainly could've been done.”
“I just told them that an obvious mistake had been made, because the table officials said so, they told the referees. They said, 'Hey, we stopped and indicated that he had called a time-out. But they didn't think it was necessary to correct the mistake, and that's that.”
On Hezonja
“He played well in the first half. He's not right. He didn't play on Sunday because of a back problem. We hope he'll recover in time for Thursday.”