Check out what the coaches and players are saying ahead of Round 32 of the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season.
Pregame quotes hub: 'We're playing in Riga, my hometown, so it will be a special game for me'
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Friday, March 28
Anadolu Efes Istanbul vs. Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (18:30 CET)
Luca Banchi, Anadolu Efes Istanbul head coach
"The results are proving that Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv is one of the team in best shape. They collected four wins in a row before their last game with Panathinaikos. Despite they were leading by 15 points few minutes before the end, as a statement of their actual shape and the quality of their basketball, a team that has an identity that no matter of the position in the standings. They are producing a very high level basketball with great flow and a productive defense who allowed them to win recently against top teams like Fenerbahçe Beko and Monaco. So it's enough to believe that will be a very tough game for us arriving a few hours after our important win against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. Unfortunately without the possibility to play at our arena, but adding some stress because of the travel. I really wish that the team will be capable to recover fast because the game will be very challenging. The opponent has all the qualities to play till the end of the regular season competing against every type of opponent. We have to be ready to play one more time our best basketball. I really wish that for the fans who will come to the arena in Riga will be a great chance to see a spectacular EuroLeague game."
Rolands Smits, Anadolu Efes Istanbul forward
"We're going to play against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in Riga, my hometown, so it will be a very special game for me and a very important game for us. It will be difficult game like all the games in EuroLeague. So we need to play our own game. It's like we played last games together like a team and be very physical to win this game. We have a few games left, so we need to go the same way."
Oded Kattash, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv head coach
"In our current situation, playing again at this level within two days is extremely challenging. We will need to recover quickly and manage the playing time. We're facing a team in incredible form, with a top 2-3 roster in the EuroLeague. They are on the rise and in excellent shape. The matchup against Anadolu Efes will be different from the one against Panathinaikos."
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul vs. Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (18:45 CET)
Saras Jasikevicius, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul head coach
"Baskonia is one of the best teams in transition and this is what we need to stop first. Markus Howard has been playing with incredible rhythm, he's in great shape and always surrounded by the great ability to get offensive rebounds."
Dyshawn Pierre, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul forward
"It’s the double week. Three more games left in this season and we just got to stay focused. We lost to them in the previous one, so it's important for us to win this one. We had a great crowd on Tuesday so again, tomorrow just come and support us. We will be waiting for you."
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade vs. Real Madrid (20:00 CET)
Chus Mateo, Real Madrid head coach
"Crvena Zvezda has played their last two games with a lot of drive and in a very smart way. They were able to win on Olympiacos's home court and yesterday they overwhelmed Virtus Bologna. It is a team with many capabilities and players of very high quality in many positions. They are very well-balanced, although it is true that they have lost [Joel] Bolomboy, who was giving them a lot. In any case, they have a great [Filip] Petrusev, a great [Nemanja] Nedovic, Codi Miller-McIntyre, Yago dos Santos, [Milos] Teodosic, who every time he steps on the court always influences the game. It has shooters like [Nikola] Kalinic and [Isaiah] Canaan, both with tonnes of experience. Also, John Brown is an excellent defender... Crvena Zvezda is full of good players, but they are playing as a team, which is what really gives them the value of being in fifth place in the standings right now."
Facundo Campazzo, Real Madrid guard
"We have a tough trip to Belgrade ahead of us. We play on a court where it's difficult to win, it's difficult to play well, but that's our goal and our mindset. We will try to set the pace of the game and keep emotions as low as possible. Tomorrow's game is a very big challenge. We have to play good basketball because Crvena Zvezda plays well at home, with a lot of confidence, runs the court well and has great fans, which is always a plus. We have to continue in the line of the last games: play good basketball, run the court well and defend hard. I think that if we control all this, we will have more chances to win."
ALBA Berlin vs. Virtus Segafredo Bologna (20:00 CET)
Pedro Calles, ALBA Berlin head coach
"Regardless of the situation in the standings, we want to approach the game against Virtus Bologna like any other game and get the maximum out of ourselves. It sounds strange to say this in March, but we're in a building phase right now. We need to work on our crunch-time performance. Of course, the tight schedule doesn't make it easy for me as a new head coach, but I'm very pleased with how the players are responding to the changes."
Tim Schneider, ALBA Berlin forward
"EuroLeague double weeks are always tough. But the first game this season against Virtus Bologna was also part of a double week. To get the win, we have to keep our confidence and focus for the full 40 minutes. Then is anything possible, especially at home with our fans behind us."
Dusko Ivanovic, Virtus Segafredo Bologna head coach
"After yesterday's bad performance we have to demonstrate that we are a good team, we have to do it because we are Virtus, a great club also in Europe and we will have to prove it tomorrow."
Alessandro Pajola, Virtus Segafredo Bologna guard
"We have a chance to get back on the court again to forget yesterday's night. We absolutely want to react and face tomorrow's game with the will and determination to interrupt this difficult period, for us and for our fans."
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens vs. Paris Basketball (20:15 CET)
Ergin Ataman, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens head coach
"Paris Basketball plays their basketball. Now everyone knows how they play. They run the floor, look for transition, and they don’t mind shooting after the first pass. Often, in 90% of their possessions, they shoot after the first pass. Therefore, we need to stay focused and fight for the win. It’s a very important game for us. We know Paris also comes from a tough loss against Fenerbahce at the buzzer. Our opponents had one extra day of rest, but we have no excuses. Tomorrow we want a very hot atmosphere, we want to win, and we want to take the home-court advantage for the playoffs. Mathias [Lessort] is a huge absence for us, we miss him in every game. But we’ve understood how to manage his absence so far with [Wenyen] Gabriel and [Konstantinos] Mitoglou at the '5'. We survived. We survived without our best center, the best center in Europe. I hope he will be ready, maybe for the playoffs. Our goal is to see him ready for the playoffs. We’ll see what happens. Right now, we’re trying to find other ways in our system without Matias."
Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens guard
"The season is coming to an end in just two or three games. Throughout the year, we have played with fire multiple times, and while that has led to some positive results – like yesterday’s game – it has also cost us in certain matches. We secured a huge victory, coming back from a 15-point deficit in the last five or six minutes. We have also won some crucial home games by turning the match around in the final moments, particularly in the fourth quarter. However, there were games we wanted to win but didn’t, such as against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan. The situation is different with Olympiacos. We want to win every game, and there are certain away matches where we definitely wanted the win. Still, we have earned some significant road victories in tough arenas and have managed to keep our home court undefeated for the past several months. That is exactly what we aim to do again tomorrow—secure a major victory. For us, this is a final. It will be a very difficult game."
Thursday, March 27
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne vs. Zalgiris Kaunas (20:00 CET)
Bryant Dunston, Zalgiris Kaunas center
"We've got to play with energy. I know it's a double week and we played an overtime game, a very emotional game, but we've got to lock in and continue to play our type of game: defensive, aggressive. In general, play with a bit more anger. I think the first game we played against them, they were really physical – they're long and athletic, they like to get up and down, so we have to try to take that away a little bit with our physicality. Also, teams that like to run don't like to get run on, so we'll have to control the tempo too, even though we're on the road."
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. AS Monaco (20:15 CET)
Georgios Bartzokas, Olympiacos Piraeus head coach
"The available players will be the same as yesterday, with the addition of Giannoulis Larentzakis. Vassilis [Spanoulis] has returned here before, as an opponent with Peristeri, and now he is with a very strong, competitive EuroLeague team, and he’s doing excellently, in my opinion. Everyone will be happy to see him here, but you understand that my job ends there. For better or worse, he is our opponent now, and we need to win. Maybe we can compare the two teams, but ASVEL beat Monaco two days ago on the road. Right now, everything is about approach, the day, and how you shoot the ball. Yesterday, we missed nine layups, had our lowest two-point shooting percentage of the season, and went 9 for 30 from three, with 10 to 12 being completely open shots from good shooters. All these things matter. In my opinion, how you shoot the ball at this level, where defenses protect the paint well, is always important."
Sasha Vezenkov, Olympiacos Piraeus forward
"I think Monaco has a ton of talent. They are a very good team, fighting for home-court advantage, with an excellent coach. We had a long time without two consecutive losses, if I’m not mistaken, so we need to bounce back, play the basketball that got us here, and not lose another game at home. We know what went wrong, what we didn’t do well, and the good thing is that we play right away, so we’ll go and try to win this game."
Elie Okobo, AS Monaco guard
"The next three games are extremely important. And that starts tomorrow. Olympiacos have already qualified, and we still have a lot to prove and achieve to qualify, while making sure we benefit from home advantage. It's going to be a war, and that's what we're preparing for: a big fight. They're a team that plays well collectively, and they're very good defensively, with their inside men causing a lot of trouble. It's up to all of us to come together and fight back. We need to stop talking and do everything we can on the pitch to put in a string of good performances."
FC Bayern Munich vs. Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade (20:30 CET)
Gordie Herbert, FC Bayern Munich head coach
"If we are still thinking about Barcelona when facing a strong team like Partizan, we have a problem. That kind of mistake often happens in sports, and we need to keep that in mind when playing in front of our fans."
Elias Harris, FC Bayern Munich center
"But a win like the one at Barça is only possible with a strong team effort. We have to stay focused on the next game – it doesn’t help to start looking at the standings and doing the math now."
Zeljko Obradovic, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade head coach
"Bayern is a team that plays exceptionally well at home, but they also play well away from home. Last night they beat Barcelona away. The key will be defense, first of all, on their three-point shooters. They have a lot of players who are able to shoot from distance and do it in transition, and when they get a rebound in the attack, they immediately go for the three-point shot. A difficult game awaits us, but we will try to prepare and be at the same energy level as we were against ALBA."
Carlik Jones, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade guard
"I expect a tough game. We beat them easily here, so I expect them to play hard and try to get some revenge on us."
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan vs. FC Barcelona (20:30 CET)
Ettore Messina, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan head coach
"We face an offensively gifted team, because of their guards and also other efficient players such as Jabari Parker, for example. Against this kind of team showing a defene consistent with the level of the competition and the all-important game we are about to play will be mandatory to increase our chances."
Joan Penarroya, FC Barcelona head coach
"We have this day to get together again, talk about everything and know that the competition continues. It was very hard, obviously. [Chimezie Metu]'s injury and losing a game we had under control, but we still have all the options. [Milan is a] direct rival. We have the opportunity to remain in contention to reach the playoffs. We have to rely on the strength that the team has shown throughout the season. Tomorrow is a day to be more united than ever and bring out all our ambition and fight."
Justin Anderson, FC Barcelona forward
"Unfortunately this [latest injury, this time for Chimezie Metu] is something that's not new for us. We've had to deal with it with Lapro, with Vesely currently, with Nunez, so we've kind of become immune to it. Whoever is available, play hard, play together, and play for each other. This is something that we've kind of got used to this season. Hopefully we're done with this. It's going to be difficult, but we've got a job to do and we want to make those guys happy through their recovery process. Our job is to make sure we put ourselves in a position to go out and represent the name on our chest."
