Cabezas: 'We're on our way now'
I
was never nervous about our situation, really. Honestly. I mean it. I
am a player, and players won't admit that even if they were nervous.
But now, after beating Lottomatica in Rome and Partizan at home, I'll
teach you a Spanish word: tranquilo. That's how I feel, and it's no
disrespect to any other teams. I feel we are on our way to the
qualification, especially with four home games left in the regular
season. Martin Carpena Arena is our house and we plan to make it work
for us and for our fans to reach the Top 16. What we have been doing in
order to win lately is playing defense better than before. The truth is
we have to play that way. We have to make sure our defense closes down
other teams, because right now we just aren't scoring a lot. We need
the defense to keep the points down, but also to ignite the fastbreak,
because we aren't getting easy points out of our offense, either. But
like I said, I am confident that we are on our way - and I was never
really worried anyway. Honestly.
What hasn't gone our way,
however, is the injury to Marcus Brown now keeping him out
indefinitely. Marcus, of course, was an important player for us, so the
idea that he is going to be out for some time - and remember he was out
when we lost our first three games - is going to make things more
complicated. There are rumors out there that we are looking for another
player and that may or may not be true, but the fact is that those of
us who are here have to fill in for his absence. Especially those of us
who play on the perimeter have to be ready not only to play more
minutes without him, but to also produce in the extra time we're out
there, to give 100 percent intensity for more minutes. We can't wait
now for someone to arrive and help us.
Speaking of minutes,
after I started the last couple of games, people ask me if it matters.
Here's the answer: it doesn't matter at all to me. In the last few
seasons, whether I was starting or not, I always got to play. In fact,
in some seasons I have played more total time coming off the bench than
I have as a starter. Sometimes it's Pepe Sanchez starting, sometimes
it's me, and neither of us gives it any importance. I see it as an
advantage of our team to have two good players at the same position who
are pretty much interchangeable. It's the same work everyday whether
you start or not. You just have to know to accept your role and be
intelligent. We have always understood that, along with our coach,
Sergio Scariolo, and if we play six minutes more or less, it depends
mainly on how each of us is playing that day. Who starts has never
mattered.
In fact, I had the best game of my career to start
this season in Tel Aviv against Maccabi, and I didn't start that game,
but I played 40-some minutes. In a couple days we play Maccabi at home,
and for us, this becomes the next key game of the season. We have to
make sure more than ever that no one wins in Martin Carpena but us. We
were able to do it against Barcelona in our domestic game over the
weekend. And if we do again this week against Maccabi, it will send the
message we need to send: not in our house. If we play good teams at our
place and beat them, we will climb in the standings. We can tie Maccabi
with a victory on Thursday, maybe even for second place. That's not bad
for a team that lost its first three games by such close scores as we
did. We'll see on Thursday
POSTED BY
CARLOS CABEZAS- MALAGA, SPAIN
DATE:
Tuesday, December 12, 2006