Balls-to-the-wall time!

February 09, 2012

OK, here we are in Nancy, one day away from our destiny, and I've got to tell you that if before the season started someone offered us the situation we're in now to reach the Top 16 - one game to win tomorrow and our two rivals playing where they are - I think we'd have signed on the dotted line. It's been like a two-tier group until now. The three teams at the top - Barcelona, Montepaschi and Panathinaikos - were fighting for the first three places. Tomorrow, those three play against the three of us trying to make the Top 16. We knew going into this it would be hard to beat those teams, but we had a goal set, to try to make the Top 16, and now we have that chance. Remember, some teams never get this kind of opportunity. But now we have that chance, Zalgiris has that chance and Prokom has that chance. One of us has to get there. It's been a fun Euroleague season all the way, and we don't want it to end. If we can upset Montepaschi tomorrow, it might be a win-and-in situation. Prokom from Poland has to play at Panathinaikos and Zalgiris has to go to Barcelona, so we think that we have a great opportunity and a great chance because we play at home. Don't get me wrong, it's going to be very hard for us as well as for Prokom and Zalgiris. We need to win, and we need them to lose, but don't forget that the big teams - except for Barcelona - are still playing for higher places, too, so all these games are going to be serious.

Speaking of fun, our last game against Zalgiris, even though we lost, was wild, people. I mean, 33 points in the last minute is something I had never seen before. And the fans in Zalgiris were incredible. I couldn't hear myself speak, that's how loud they were. It was strange because without winning, the difference wasn't going to affect us much, but they wanted to win by 15, so they were fouling constantly in the final minute. We thought that if they missed their shots, we could make ours and get closer. But then they made some big threes and after awhile we tried not to foul them any more, just to end it. It was a long, long game. We didn't get the win and they didn't get the 15-point differerence, but that Zalgiris team is a good one. The kids on that team play hard and play together. You can tell they've been with each other awhile. And even without Loren Woods, they're going to fight for sure in Barcelona. They'll never give up.

So it all comes down to one game. I still think we have the best situation of the three teams still trying to get into the Top 16. We're playing tomorrow in our gym. Tonight we will sleep in our own beds. We've got some of the greatest fans in Europe ready to help us make history. Siena is a helluva team, but this could be historical for us. It's going to be fun. This is what we play for, to have chances like this one. I can't wait. It's balls-to-the-wall time. We don't want to give up nothing easy. I doesn't do any good to say we've got to stop this or that. When the game starts, everything is moving fast. We just need to play as hard as we can, limit turnovers, get defensive rebounds and go. We can't wait until Thursday to figure it out. We've got to go out and play like chickens with our heads cut off for 40 minutes.

POSTED BY

RICARDO GREER - NANCY, FRANCE

DATE:

Tuesday, January 13, 2009