Check out what the coaches and players are saying ahead of Round 23 of the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season.
Pregame quotes hub: 'Every game in the EuroLeague matters'
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Friday, January 24
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne vs. FC Barcelona (20:00 CET)
Joan Penarroya, FC Barcelona head coach
"The team is feeling well. After a month in which we barely couldn't have a day off, we were able to stop and I think that it was good for the players. But the competition doesn't stop: it looks like it is a week to rest but we have two road games, and we have to focus on the most recent one, which is the one tomorrow against ASVEL. It is a team that already showed at Palau [Blaugrana] that they are really talented, with important players able to play one-on-one, with very good athletes. It is a team that if it plays like it should, it can put anybody in trouble. Theo Maledon is a player that months ago, all good teams in Europe asked about him. But they have other players, someone as experienced as Nando De Colo, who gives them a lot of balance, Paris Lee, Roberson... It is talented team and like other French squads, they like to play on the open court, with quick transitions and a lot of players going one-on-one. It is something we have to stop as a team, not individually."
Youssoupha Fall, FC Barcelona center
"We prepared well for the game. We are all positive, we're in good shape, and we're ready to go. We turned our bad form around and are now in a good moment. I think my role is to be ready every time, to be available for my team, even if I don't play: to help my team win, no matter watch. I think it will be a tough game. ASVEL played good last time. We have to stay concentrated and be ready for a new battle."
ALBA Berlin vs. FC Bayern Munich (20:00 CET)
Gordon Herbert, FC Bayern Munich head coach
"I'm looking less at the big win we had against them here in the EuroLeague (115:88) and more at the last game we lost there (81:88 in the BBL). ALBA is coming, they're healthy again and have new players. They're a good basketball team, you can't let the standings fool you. But this is an answer game for us. Okay, we're playing against ALBA, this duel has become a great tradition. But what's more important to me is that we play good basketball again, more stable. Even if we have a bad offensive game, like against Virtus, we should be able to win. We can't win every time and score 90 points. We also have to toil sometimes and still be successful."
Nick Weiler-Babb, FC Bayern Munich guard
"We played great, nothing went wrong in the first half. But then the game slowly slipped away from us [in the German League game against ALBA two weeks ago]. We need to take this seriously and not mess it up. If we are ahead, we have to hold on to that lead, and if we are behind, we need to fight. Despite their many problems, they always had good moments during the season and even won unexpectedly at times. It's always tricky against them because they always play better against us. We cannot take this game lightly. This is different from a [German League] game, it's a very important game. Because we want to remain in a position to make the play-in or playoffs in the EuroLeague."
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (20:15 CET)
Georgios Bartzokas, Olympiacos Piraeus head coach
"We will not approach the game thinking that it is a game for the first place. That’s against our philosophy. It’s just the upcoming game for us, nothing more. Of course, we want the first place and the home-court advantage; there is no doubt about it. But, it’s too soon to talk about it. As we all know, every game in the EuroLeague matters, and the game against Fenerbahçe is not the one that will decide first place. We are coming from a winning streak in the EuroLeague. Generally, we played well the last two months, but this game is going to be different and tough. They defend well on the ball; they have a set game on defense and offense because of their coach philosophy. For us, it is important to control the pace, run a lot, and move the ball well. Since our game in the first [part of the regular season], many things have changed on both teams. There are many differences on the rosters as well. Both teams have improved their game, and the proof for that is where they are in the standings."
Moustapha Fall, Olympiacos Piraeus center
"We expect a tough game, as every game in the Euroleague. They will play tough, but we will do the same because we want to keep the first position in the standings. All we have to do in order to get one more win is to stay focused and follow our game plan."
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul head coach
"We are playing against a team that is the best in Europe and the team that always finds a way to win in a very difficult arena. We must worry first of all about their team concepts, and a team game specially, the ball movement, and then have to deal with some great players who are in very good shape like Vezenkov and Fournier."
Errick McCollum, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul guard
"We are preparing for Olympiacos. We know that they are a strong team. They have been in first place. Majority of the year they’ve had a lot of success, a lot of continuity, a lot of the same guys, same coach so our hands will be full. So, we have to prepare for them, the coach will put the game plan in and we have to follow. We must play strong, tough and smart especially on an away game atmosphere like Olympiacos."
Thursday, January 23
Anadolu Efes Istanbul vs. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan (18:30 CET)
Luca Banchi, Anadolu Efes Istanbul head coach
"It's another opportunity in the EuroLeague schedule to show our desire to win a game and we can change the inertia of our actual moment. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan is a playoff team which will come to Istanbul with a strong motivation. I know them as a very proud team and they know how important this game is for both teams. So from our side, I really hope that we use experience from the last games and we approach this game with proper focus, determination and play basketball that can make us compete. Because this is a league where every single possession matters. And we really want to show a different attitude and a different level of performance."
Ercan Osmani, Anadolu Efes Istanbul forward
"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get the results we wanted recently. We want to start a new winning streak and climb up in the standings. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan is a team that has been on the rise recently. We need to show our team play, concentrate very well in 40 minutes and never give up the fight."
Ettore Messina, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan head coach
"[Thursday] morning we'll make a decision about [Leandro] Bolmaro and [Zach] LeDay, who came out hurt from the last [Italian League] game. However, we intend to play with cohesion and keep improving at every possible turn. Efes has the talent level of a Final Four team, so we know how hard this game is going to be."
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv vs. Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade (20:05 CET)
Oded Kattash, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv head coach
"For us it is our defensive intensity, to keep our focus and finish the job controlling the board. That is something when you play Crvena Zvezda. Also, to attack the right way. They really put a lot of pressure, we need to reduce turnovers. These are the two main keys."
Levi Randolph, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv forward
"We understand what’s ahead of us, we have a difficult schedule, but there are no excuses. I really feel that it just takes one win to get the ball rolling, get some momentum, gain some confidence we show in spurts. We got to continue to get better."
Ioannis Sfairopoulos, Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade head coach
"If we think that the opponent is easy just because the opponent has only five wins - we will be very naive. Maccabi is a very good team and I believe that their position in the table is not realistic. It is very important for us to play good defense. They are great on offense, they have a quality flow of the ball. They know how to play together, defenders and tall players. They have a great cooperation with each other and we have to stop that cooperation with good defense."
Luka Mitrovic, Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade forward
"It is rarely easy in the EuroLeague. We don't expect anything else against Maccabi either. Maybe the position says otherwise, but we enter the match very cautiously. We are ready, above all mentally, to play a good game and, God willing, achieve an important victory. At the end of the day, it all depends on us and our release. It proved that even 20,000 fans in the Arena are not enough if we are not good enough. On the other hand, we proved that when we are at a high level, there is no away field where we cannot win."
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens vs. Zalgiris Kaunas (20:15 CET)
Ergin Ataman, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens head coach
"Now we'll forget about the Greek League derby [which we won] against Olympiacos. In the EuroLeague, we lost two games last week in Spain, so now we will have more games on our home court. The first is against Zalgiris, a very important game because we lost in Kaunas with a huge points difference. They have very experienced players, especially perimeter players: [Sylvain] Francisco, [Lonnie] Walker, [Ignas] Brazdeikis, [Dovydas] Giedraitis. On their bigs, Smailagic played a great game against Fenerbahce in Istanbul. Okay, we are missing some important players, but we have a very good roster and we can manage the game with this roster, maybe with some short rotations at the '5' and the '4'. It will be important to play aggressive defense, like we played two days ago in the derby game."
Kendrick Nunn, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens guard
"When we play with good energy, it raises our chances of winning. We had a good day of practice, had a good week. The guys will be ready [against Zalgiris]. Everybody needs to step up and bring a little more than they have [given the injury situation], including me. We're in the back end of the season now and it's important to give ourselves the best seed possible for the playoffs. We will do that, we know that, we're conscious of that, and I'm still confident of that and our chances to win."
Andrea Trinchieri, Zalgiris Kaunas head coach
"What to say when you go to play in OAKA against the reigning champion of the EuroLeague? That they are good, we all know. That they are super good, we all know that. They have a lot of talent and they are playing for the repeat, and we should prepare very well physically and mentally. We need to be very aware that we have to play our best game in order to compete. I prevent you from asking me how to stop this player, how to stop that player, because they really have tons of talent: [Kendrick] Nunn, [Kostas] Sloukas, Lorenzo Brown, Cedi Osman, [Jerian] Grant is playing an amazing season. They are a team that I believe will go small ball, and that's something we have to expect. But I don't believe you can have a recipe to stop players with such amounts of talent, so you need to play a really compete game offensively, defensively, and really try to put all the energy you have on both ends of the court."
Virtus Segafredo Bologna vs. AS Monaco (20:30 CET)
Dusko Ivanovic, Virtus Segafredo Bologna head coach
"We are facing Monaco, a team that I believe has been built to play at the Final Four. They can count on excellent players and a lot of solutions both in 1vs1 against one with Mike James, [Elie] Okobo and [Jordan] Loyd, and around the basket with [Donatas] Motiejunas, they are a really complete team."
Marco Belinelli, Virtus Segafredo Bologna guard
"For sure, we have another tough game ahead of us from a physical and mental standpoint. We face a team that comes from three consecutive losses and will want to approach this game from the start aggressively, both on offense and defense, trying to steal balls and find easy baskets. They have great individuality and on our part we will have to take the court in the right way, as we are doing in this last period. It will be necessary to find solutions on offense by playing as a team, without conceding balls in the opponent’s half of the court."
Vassilis Spanoulis, AS Monaco head coach
"It's a very, very important game for us. In previous seasons, you had to win around 21 games to get into the playoffs, this year it may be 19 given how close it is, but all these games are ones we have to go out and win. We've got our destiny in our hands, and we've got to be perfectly ready to face this Virtus team in front of their home crowd."
Mam Jaiteh, AS Monaco center
"We certainly have to react. It's part of a EuroLeague season to have moments that are very high and others that are a little lower. We have to make sure that this period is as short as possible. To do that, we need to get back to our standards. Get back to what's worked so far, and if we fight for that, we've got a good chance of winning again. Bologna? They're a team I know most of the players in. They've had a difficult start to the season, but you can tell that under the new coach, they're playing better and fighting harder. Their ranking is not representative of what they're doing at the moment. It's going to be very difficult, but we're going to do everything we can to come away with the success we're hoping for."
Real Madrid vs. Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (20:45 CET)
Chus Mateo, Real Madrid head coach
"Baskonia is in very good rhythm and is clearly on the rise. That is why I hope that we pay all our attention and do not think that just because we won in Vitoria on January 6, we are going to win [this] game without putting in all our effort. Baskonia has players who are clearly improving: Moneke, Luwawu-Cabarrot, Samanic. The two point guards are playing together on many occasions at a good level and, of course, there is Howard, apart from the rest. I am not going to discover anything by saying that Baskonia is capable of scoring a lot and that has many weapons, especially offensive, which makes it dangerous. I think it can beat anyone and that requires all of our attention."
Usman Garuba, Real Madrid center
"Every game is important. We have to continue fighting for our objective, which is to continue moving forward in a competition like the Euroleague in which everything is very even. We have played against Baskonia several times this season, we know them well and we know what they are capable of, so we have to be ready and prepared to face a tough and difficult match. Now we are running well and doing damage on the fast break. We have to continue down that path and play with great intensity. We are happy to play at home and we will try to become stronger at the Movistar Arena."
Wednesday, January 22
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade vs. Paris Basketball
Zeljko Obradovic, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade head coach
"Paris is one of the teams we lost to in a close finish, even though we had many positive moments in that game. Paris is a unique team that frequently rotates players, and it’s unusual to see players getting up from the bench on their own, knowing substitutions are coming. They play at a very high tempo, take an enormous number of three-point shots, and shoot with impressive accuracy while always crashing the offensive glass. After conceding a basket, they immediately transition into pick-and-roll action. If the first pick doesn’t work, they keep repeating it. We’ve prepared for that, and I expect us to deliver an even better performance than we did in Paris and to continue playing defense the way we did in our last game."
Arijan Lakic, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade guard
"After two away games in a double round, we’re now looking forward to playing at home, and I believe we’re ready. Paris plays at a fast pace, and we know we need to slow them down. Even when they concede points, they quickly inbound the ball and transition into offense. We have to be prepared for that and stay focused on every possession."