Time runs slow until Final Four! - ALEX GARCIA - Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL

Hi, Euroleague fans. It's a great time of year for basketball and I'm glad to have this opportunity to share with you my thoughts as we get ready for the Final Four. Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself. My name is Alex Garcia and I'm from Brazil. I'm really a quiet guy who works hard at what I do every day. I'm a team player and I love to help my teammates win. Off the court, I'm a family guy.

I've been playing basketball for 15 years. Soccer is the most popular sport in Brazil and I also played soccer as a boy, but my older brother played basketball. When I was in school, he'd invite me to come see him play and it was a lot of fun, so I started to play too. I learned from him and later began to play with his friends. That's also how I developed my style. I saw from the beginning that everybody wanted to have the ball, shoot a lot and score 30 points. So I decided that I would find a way to play well differently. I knew that if I stopped my man from scoring, it is just as important to winning. Defense is my power. I like to play defense; I like to help my teammates on defense. Whatever team we play against, I want to guard their best player and stop him. That's my job and that's what I like to do.

This Final Four is very special for Brazil, because two Brazilians are playing in the Final Four: Myself and Tiago Splitter of Tau Ceramica. Tiago is a good friend of mine. We have been playing together for the Brazilian national team for many years and it would be like a dream now to face him in the Euroleague final. I've never played against Tiago before, but it would be great if Tau beats CSKA and we beat Montepaschi to reach the final. The Euroleague has become very popular in Brazil. Every Friday I have friends that watch the games and then call me to talk about them. But I think that right now Tau is more popular in Brazil than Maccabi because there have been many Brazilian players who have played in Spain. This is only my first season at Maccabi and I hope to change that.

When I first came to Maccabi, everyone was talking about how great the club is. About the two Euroleague championships they won only a few years ago and about getting back to the Final Four this season. I'm very, very happy to have reached the Final Four in my first season in Europe. I have no words to explain how happy I am. I worked hard every day for this chance to be in the Final Four.

Maccabi is just a great club to be a part of. It's run so well and that allows me to only focus on basketball. The other great thing about Maccabi is the fans. I've never seen anything like it in my life. The fans are so fanatic. They come up to the players in the streets of Tel Aviv to tell them how much they love the team. They bring so much passion to our games. I've been told by my teammates how many Maccabi fans go to the Final Four. They told me that in Moscow and Prague, they went out to play and the stands were yellow! I'm looking forward to seeing that in Madrid.

For now we have to focus on some important games in the Israeli League before we put all of our attention on Montepaschi. That will come soon, but it can't come soon enough for me!

POSTED BY

ALEX GARCIA - TEL AVIV, ISRAEL