Nothing like the first time! - RICARDO GREER - Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL

The last you guys heard from me, I was looking like the Elephant Man. I am looking a little better now, and feeling a lot better after our first Euroleague win last week against Zalgiris. I am really happy that it happened at home here in Nancy, because it was great for our fans to see something like that. I've been playing in France for six years now, and these fans here are by far the best I have played for in my career. They are so loyal to the guys on the team, like after the first Euroleague game here, when we got spanked by Barcelona, they were with us 150 percent, no questions asked. With loyalty like that from them to the players, it's a great place to play and it was great to give them the opportunity to see a win like the one against Zalgiris. That was for the fans, the club president, the coaches and the guys who have been here many, many years. To go into the Euroleague and get a historic win against a long-time Euroleague team like Zalgiris was really big for Nancy. The fans were going crazy after the game, we were going crazy with them, and it's just a great feeling to have fans like that, behind you no matter what. Now, we gotta see if we can surprise some other team for them.

Of course, it didn't start out so good for us. We opened the Euroleague at home against Barcelona and were down by just five points at halftime. Five minutes into the second half, it was a different story. They just opened the game up and took off on the scoreboard. But that's the Euroleague for you. Barcelona and teams like that play 40 consistent minutes. We had to learn together, as a team, that you can't play just 20 minutes well in this league. You've gotta play 40. And we're still learning it, but we're doing better. We felt good before the Zalgiris game because we knew we were getting close. We had a big road win in the French League right before Zalgiris, but we knew it was a team we had an opportunity to beat because of the way we played against Panathinaikos. We had played good against a great team. We tried to have same game against Zalgiris, knowing that if we did the same things, we would have a chance.

Still, we were 0-3 after three weeks and for some of the guys, the Euroleague games were a big change. We sat down and spoke about it, how we had tough matchups against big teams and we were already seeing that you can't make mistakes. If you make one or two, suddenly you're down 15 and 20 on the scoreboard. Some of these teams are just loaded. Barcelona has a huge team of big guys. And then comes Panathinaikos and their young center, Pekovic. He hit me once and it was like getting hit by a train. He's a big boy. I said to him, "How much you weigh?" and he said, "Too much". And he was right. The physical part of the game for me is really fun. When we get to do that, I like it. But it's very different in different leagues, and in France, it seems every touch is called a foul. In the Euroleague, they let you play, so it's much more physical. It was something that some of our guys weren't used to it. They were getting pushed around, but now we're pushing back.

I am playing a lot of point forward this year, which means I get to call a lot of plays. I've been doing that the last two years, because our coach, Jean-Luc Monschau, has shown that confidence in me. I like to think that when the games are tight, it's definitely the feeling I want, confidence in letting me decide. We have point guards in John Cox and Steed Tchicamboud who are also big enough to score as two-guards, so when I play point forward, I try to move them around and help them get open shots, with some freedom for them from being pressured by pesky little guys. Coach sends me in the post, too, where I can pass out to those guys for open shots. Anything I can do is fine with me if it helps the team win. Scoring points for me is not a main concern. My main concern is winning. We've got the offensive weapons. Lamayne Wilson is, to me, among the top power forwards in the Euroleague. He can work inside and outside and has been a big boost for us. My brother Jeff and Michel Morandais and John Cox can all give us 20 points a night if needed. So if I can help make it all happen, help them excel and the team win, that's what I'm going to do when I'm out there.

Next up we've got another tough team, Siena, and it will certainly be tough to win there. But I think that mentally things changed for us with our first win. Our biggest thing now is not to give up even if things are going bad. We want to go hard no matter what. We're going ahead with some optimism, trying to win. It's a challenge, but we're not going to lay down for nobody. Since the first game in the Euroleague, we've been getting a little big more comfortable each time. It's fun to compete now, and we plan on doing more of it, so stay tuned.

POSTED BY

Ricardo Greer, Nancy