Home sweet home

May 25, 2012

Home sweet home

Well, I can tell you one thing: it's good to be back in Vitoria, Spain. What a tough road trip! We left last Monday morning, and as you know we lost by two big scores to CSKA Moscow, missed our flight back from Russia, stayed a night in Madrid and then played a Spanish League game on Sunday before flying back and getting here to our own homes again. You know the bad news: two big losses in Moscow that dropped us down 0-2 in our five-game series against CSKA. The good news is that we won our Spanish League game. The truth is that after two bad games, getting beat by 20, when I think we're better than that, we needed to get our confidence back. Having a game before the next one helped in that regard. It was something we needed, I think. And a road win in the Spanish League, no matter where it is, can help you get your game in order. We did the things that got us here, and it turned out to be good for our confidence going into Tuesday.

Of course, I don't want to talk much about what happened in Moscow. Some things are better forgotten. The first game was over early. It was just a bad game by us in which didn't play as well as we could have and should have. In the second game, I thought we played alright in the first half, and were down by just a few at halftime, something that isn't necessarily bad or unexpected playing on the road against CSKA. But then we had a third-quarter letdown, right after coming out of the locker room, and CSKA capitalized on it. To say we had a letdown is not taking anything from CSKA. They're a great team, and because of that, you just can't go three possessions in a row without getting a decent shot, you can't slack off for a couple minutes. It's 40 minutes or nothing against a team like that, and we didn't play like we can for every one of the 40, which is what it takes in the playoffs.

I have definitely noticed in this round a big step up in the level of intensity on the floor. Every possession is critical and every move is crucial. It takes a lot more focus to succeed now. You look at CSKA, and in those first two games, it looked like they've been playing together forever. They play the right way. They play with patience. They exploit mismatches. They just know what they are doing. They have a lot of experience and a history of winning, and it's no secret why. They've got a lot guys who show every minute out there why they have won it all in the past.

Now, our back is against the wall if we want to continue playing in the Euroleague and go to the Final Four. It's win or go home for us on Tuesday. We have to give all we've got. We certainly have to come out with a lot more energy and confidence. We have to play harder than in the first two games. Luckily, we have great fans to help us do that. That's what playing at home is all about and why every team wants that advantage. We need to play with more energy, and we know that our fans can help us in that department. With that extra energy and what we learned in the last week, we need to get back in the series. It's just one game for us now. There's no looking past Tuesday. We've got to get that win at home in Game 3. We've got to make this series interesting.

POSTED BY

BRAD OLESON - VITORIA, SPAIN

DATE:

Monday, March 29, 2010