I've heard about it and I can't wait to see it

February 10, 2012

It's Final Four time! Now the big event is closer than ever and I can't wait to get to Madrid to feel the excitement. I think everybody is excited. It's my first year and I'm already in the Final Four so I am really excited. Some of the guys who’ve been to a few Final Fours already, like Derrick Sharp, Tal Burstaein and Yotam Halperin, have been helping some of the first-timers like myself to get ready, telling us about the fans and the atmosphere and the excitement, but nothing will be like landing in Madrid and seeing for myself. I'm most excited to see our fans there. I've heard about it and I can't wait to see our part of the arena in Madrid all yellow with thousands of fans.

All season long getting to and playing in the Final Four has sat in the back of our minds, although we always had to repress those thoughts and focus on winning each game just to be able to get there. Now Montepaschi is the next game and I can spend all my time thinking about that. I'm all about learning as much as I can on Montepaschi and about how to stop their guards. Montepaschi is great team, a tough team to play against. We'll have to do a good job if we want to win the game. My role in the Final will be that same as always: Defense man. It's always defense.

As I told you last time, my good friend Tiago Splitter, who like me is also from Brazil, will also be at the Final Four. Tiago plays for Tau Ceramica. We spoke the other day and he told me he also wants Maccabi to beat Montepaschi so that if his team beats CSKA, we could meet in the final. That would be great in Brazil. The games will be live on TV there and I know that my friends and family are getting together to watch our games. It'll be a little Alex Garcia party!

I know some people might be concerned because we lost our last two games in the Israeli League, but it's so different. We concentrate more on the Euroleague than the Israeli League. For me the Euroleague is more important than the Israeli League and we prepare more for the Euroleague. We can even learn a little from losing in Nahariya on Sunday. We played okay, but made some mistakes on defense. We have to improve that for Montepaschi.

POSTED BY

Alex Garcia - Tel Aviv, Israel

DATE:

Monday, April 28, 2008