The tension is rising

Tue, 01 May 2007 11:33:40 GMT

We are all looking forward to Friday now. Everybody is thinking of us as the home team, I know. And of course, that helps on the court, at the same time that we have a lot of distractions off the court. But from Wednesday on, we will be in the Final Four team hotel, so we will be kind of protected from everything going on. I am lucky to not have so many distractions as other guys, because I don't understand Greek so well yet and so I can't read what is being said in the newspapers. I can make myself very stupid and avoid some of the distractions here. But you can feel what's happening around you. You can feel tension rising. Everybody is looking for extra tickets. Even fans stop you on the street asking for tickets. So I am looking forward, actually, to going to the hotel as a team on Wednesday. In the hotel, we can be in a normal rhythm like any other Euroleague road game for us. I am glad about that.

Of course, this will be the first time we play against Tau this season. My point of view is that in the semifinals, I prefer to play a team we did not play this season and only have watched on TV or whatever. I have seen some of their games and have been really impressed by them. All five players on the court always play at a big rhythm. With that image of them in my mind, but without playing them yet, I know that I will prepare much more cautiously, not knowing exactly what to expect. If we had played against a team and beat them by 20 or something in the regular season, maybe I would be thinking we could win easily. That's not the case now, because Tau is so good, but also because we didn't play them already. There is no reference. I prefer it that way.

The truth is we have big respect for Tau. That's a big team with a long roster. Nobody at this moment is thinking about the loss last year that Panathinaikos had at home against Tau, especially not me because I wasn't even there, but not the guys on our team who were, either. Maybe it's more of a thing that the press and the fans talk about than the players and the staff. We can't concern ourselves with last year. We want to win this year in the semifinal. That is the only thing that is important to us. So I repeat, I have respect for this team as surely one of the best in Europe. It will be very interesting to play against them.

Of course, I played against Tau before myself, when I was with other teams, so I know what some of their players are like. To tell you the truth, I personally think that video helps a lot, helps you to see a lot of things you wouldn't see otherwise, but the game on Friday will be much more than what you can prepare on video. That's when everything comes out that you can't see on video: the will to win, the desire, the personal qualities that make a difference in such a big game. They all pop out at that moment. Video tells you a lot about tactics, but only on the court in these special moments can you see those other qualities that are so important.

Thinking big, the second time around

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:04:20 GMT

I only had one previous experience at the Final Four, but I remember it as something unique. To start with, it was my first time at a Final Four. Also, we played the Final Four in front of our home crowd. To me, the whole thing was like a dream come true. It was especially that way when we won against Benetton, our biggest rival at the time, in the semifinals. In the other semifinal, Panathinaikos surprised Maccabi, who went in being favored, as I recall. I remember between the semifinal and the final thinking of what it would be like to win the title and stuff like that. I guess it was too early, because everyone knows what happened in the final. Panathinaikos came from 13 behind in the first half to rally and beat us on our floor.

Of course, the coach of that Panathinaikos team is my coach now, Zeljko Obradovic. If you can't beat them, join them, right? I can't say that, actually, because it happened a long time ago. It's not like I went the next season straight to Panathinaikos. But anyhow, I hope that I'm on the right side this time. It's certainly good to have a coach like Obradovic on the bench. This will be his 10th Final Four, and for sure he's going to be ready as always. That could be a big advantage. On the other hand, you have Ettore Messina, Boza Maljkovic and Sergio Scariolo, coaches with big expeirence, too. The sword could have two edges that cut different ways. One can be very helpful in terms of his experience. The other could cut us, though, if we think we can depend on him our coach to resolve the whole thing by himself. We players have to be ready.

I am looking forward to running into a couple of my ex-teammates from that Kinder Bologna team. Matjaz Smodis and I keep in touch, of course, because we are both from Slovenia. I was also in touch with David Andersen up until a couple years ago, but we haven't been able to talk since. Anyhow, when I see him it will be good as always to talk with Dave and remember the good times we had in Bologna together.

The experience and everything around the Final Four is really unique. I was just speaking to Frankie Alvertis. It's amazing, this is his eighth Final Four. He says that in the end, you just have to think of it as one game in which you can only give your best and hope it is good enough on that day, at that moment. If it's good enough in the semifinal, you take the same attitude into the final. For him, after so many Final Fours, you have to believe that he knows. For me, I already know this is something special, after everything that happened to me since my last one, my injury and coming back from that. I know these opportunities don't come often. I like having the chance again to catch the one, biggest title, which means a lot to every player.

Everybody is saying we will have a homecourt advantage, but it's not really like, in my opinion. We practice at OAKA, too, and already 10 days before the Final Four, we can see the changes being made to the court. By the time the Final Four actually starts, it will not be our gym. It will be the Final Four gym. We can't rely on playing in front of 20,000 green fans to get us through. There will be a lot of other people there, and that will be strange for us in this particular arena, where we always have full...

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The tension is rising

Thinking big, the second time around