Ready, willing and able

February 09, 2012

Carlos Cabezas

We are all excited to be on our way to Athens. The mood on the team right now is very relaxed. We know that we have a semifinal that's going to be very difficult, very complicated. CSKA has a variety of very important players at every position. They will all be difficult and we have to be at our best against all of them, so I wouldn't talk about one player or another. They are all good. The one highlight you can say about CSKA is the defense. They are famous for that. But we think we play pretty good defense, too, and that's what we are working on, too. If our defense is good, we will have our options. If we can play good defense and get to the final quarter with the score as close as possible, I think the pressure will then be increasing on CSKA. This is a one-shot elimination game, and we all know from experience that a lot of things can happen. The key for us is to simply play our best, because even with our injuries, if we do that, we will be where we want to be, competing with the champions for the entire game. At the end, anything can happen.

Of course, we have not seen CSKA this year, but last year they were champions, too, and in the two games we played, they won at home and we won at home. That's just to say that we are not thinking of them as an unbeatable team for any reason. Last year's games don't matter now, of course, but we go into any game with high hopes and expectations. Any player loves this kind of challenge. If we had won a few with them in the past and they won a few with us, it's something that you might remember, but now it's the moment that counts. And I can assure you that all of us who will go on the court in Athens will be ready to play to the fullest, not because of whom we are facing, but because of the excitement of the moment and the great opportunity that is before us.

People ask if we have an advantage with Marcus Brown, and I think of course it is great to have him back for this. That's the same whether we were going to play CSKA or not. At the same time, he knows several of their players really well, and evidently, he is talking to our coach, Sergio Scariolo, for any information that could help us. That's also important because we're looking at new strategies, due to the fact that we have injuries to our big men. Of course, with Daniel Santiago not in the middle for us, our main producer there, we are going to have more responsibility on the perimeter. We have to be running pick-and-rolls well, looking for easy baskets when possible, but also keeping things simple. I think it's most important that we walk onto the floor at OAKA with clear minds about what we want to do. We have nothing to be nervous about if we are ready with our game plan and ready to perform. The mood of the team, as I said, is great. We are in this together and happy about that. We know what the challenge is and what it means. We have a lot of people helping us, and together with that effort and our confidence, we will be ready.

POSTED BY

Carlos Cabezas - Malaga, Spain

DATE:

Wednesday, May 02, 2007