Veolia Towers Hamburg showed great character and determination to grab its second win of the season, an 81-83 triumph over the London Lions in the English capital. Small forward Will Christmas has been heating up recently and made some key plays for the Towers in the win.
Will Christmas, Hamburg: 'We are a team that you have to respect'
Interviews
9 Mins read
In his first EuroCup season, Will Christmas has averaged 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds for a PIR of 7.9 and he has boosted his numbers to 13.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and a PIR of 12.5 in the last few games. Born in California, Christmas played in Luxembourg and in the German second division before joining Hamburg. And, of course, around this time of the year, he gets many Christmas jokes related to his surname, as he told Javier Gancedo of the official EuroCup website in this interview. "I have been dealing with it essentially my whole life, and I wouldn't even say dealing with it, that kind of puts it in a negative light," Christmas said. "But I have heard it and I appreciate it. I think people do it more out of appreciation than anything, so it doesn't bother me at all."
Congratulations on beating London on the road. You had a strong start and regained the lead in the end. What was the key to not losing control and holding on down the stretch?
"I would say probably just staying on point with the things that we practice and the things that were points for the game, obviously. We came in there with a lot of energy and they came out kind of sluggish, but they are a good team. So we knew that they were going to make a run and just stay consistent with what we were doing all game and trusting the process throughout that. And that was able to help us come out of that with a win."
This is your second win. How much of a turning point could it be, and what do you need to do to keep winning?
"The EuroCup is tough and especially our group is incredibly competitive. So for us it's just about moving forward from this game with confidence that we have what it takes on our team to compete. But for us, against some of the better teams in the EuroCup that are in our group is just about... we've got a small margin of error, so we have to be extremely detailed and make sure that we maintain that level of focus that we went into London with for the rest of the season."
"The EuroCup is tough and especially our group is incredibly competitive."
This is your first EuroCup season. How do you like the experience until now, playing against big European teams night in and night out?
"I think it's fun, it's a blast. And as a young player, that's all you ever want, just to have the opportunity to, at least for me, to compete against whoever is considered some of the best players in the world. And obviously, we play against very high quality European teams and some of the best players in Europe and across the world. So it's an awesome experience for me. It's a learning experience, for sure."
You played in Luxembourg two seasons ago. Does coming from a lower league make you appreciate playing the EuroCup more, knowing that you earned your spot in this league?
"Definitely. It is a journey, and the work that you put in is what makes the rewards that much sweeter. So coming from Luxembourg, coming from ProB [second division] in Germany and finding my way, working my way up into this level is definitely rewarding. It feels good. And I just do my best to cherish and appreciate the opportunities that I have been given."
Benka Barloschky is the youngest coach in the EuroCup. What's the best thing about him?
"First of all, I think he has a great, great energy. He's extremely positive and is very good at giving energy. And he is a high-quality communicator. He is very clear about what he wants. He is very honest and very open with us. And I think that enables us to trust him and the things that he tells us to do and then go out and try to execute those things to the best of our ability."
Do you think that his being so young is an advantage, in terms of what goes through his players' minds?
"Yes, definitely. sometimes being closer in age to some of the players makes it probably a little bit easier for him to relate than the coach that was maybe into his 50s or 60s or whatever. But I also think that having that youth on your side in the coaching world is something that gives him a little extra edge in terms of his hunger and his drive and commitment to not only helping us become better, but also his own journey to improving as a coach and moving up into higher levels of coaching. So I think that works in his favor, for sure."
Up next, Hamburg travels to Paris to face the top-ranked team in the group. How much are you looking forward to it and how much of an opportunity is it for your team?
"I am definitely looking forward to it. Obviously, we played them already and the result was not the one that we wanted. Paris is a phenomenal team, they have had a lot of games with a very large margin of victory, us being included in that. And so I think it's just a great opportunity, first of all, to show how much we have improved over that time period since we played them. It is also a chance to learn from a team that plays at a very high level on how to compete and hopefully be able to take that experience and use it moving forward to help us in games, obviously domestically and other EuroCup games as well."
Not a bad month of December for Hamburg in terms of traveling: London last week, Paris next week. How are you enjoying this?
"It's awesome, man. And before this year, there were a lot of these places I had never been to. And in terms of cities, I think that we got a really, really good [EuroCup regular season] group. Like you said, we just went to London, we are going to Paris. We were in Barcelona, Istanbul, Venice... We have been to some good cities that we were able to see. Aside from the basketball, just from the human aspect of it, the ability to just travel and see different places and experience different cultures and just add experiences to my ledger as a person is awesome. It leaves me with a lot of stories to tell, hopefully when I get a little bit older."
"The work that you put in is what makes the rewards that much sweeter."
For someone who grew up in California, how different is Christmas in Hamburg compared to how you celebrate back home?
"It's a little bit different. Out here, I noticed that they do the opening of Christmas presents the day before, so that's a thing that we don't do in the States. But in California around this time, it's not snow. They don't really have the winter markets. And I think that honestly, it adds an element of Christmas that feels like it's supposed to be there. You associate that stuff with the snow and with the cold weather and getting warm inside by the fireplace, all those kinds of things. The Christmas trees, the lights in California around this time, it's still probably... you're going to have some days with some sun out, good weather. So, it's definitely different, but I like it."
I am sure people do this all the time, but do you get a lot of Christmas jokes here and there?
"Yeah, but by this time I'm used to it. I have been dealing with it essentially my whole life, and I wouldn't even say dealing with it, that kind of puts it in a negative light. But I have heard it and I appreciate it. I think people do it more out of appreciation than anything, so it doesn't bother me at all. It's definitely a lot for sure, especially more so around this time when Christmas comes around. That's when people are going to really mostly get a lot of their jokes and their little things off, you know. But once we get past this season, we get more into the springtime... People are people, they forget all about it."
Now that you have played everybody in Group A and the team has more momentum, how dangerous can Hamburg be in the remaining seven regular season games?
"I think that last week, we proved that we have gotten better and that we are going to continue to get better and that, as far as the teams in our group go, that we can be a tough opponent that you might not want to play on in a tough week, that we are capable of going in any gym, playing against anybody and competing and giving teams a fight, just a team that you have to respect for sure. I think that's already a huge step from where we started this EuroCup journey. I think that if we can improve, we might be able to pick up a few more wins here or there."