NBA Europe Live Quotes: Real Madrid 104-103 Toronto Raptors
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Real Madrid head coach Joan Plaza
"First, of course, let me say it was a great satisfaction for all basketball lovers and hopeuflly even those who are not Real Madrid supporters, I hope they enjoyed the game. Obviously, our important game will be next Sunday against Tau. We designed this as just a training game, which might sound arrogant, but it's true: this was very good training, but I am not going to open bottles of champagne over this victory. I think we won against a very good team, a defensive team. They were very complicated to defend because they have a lot of shooters from the perimeter, but we defended that well and I'm very happy with the results"
"You don't beat an NBA team evey day, right, so you have reasons to rejoice, yes, of course. But we have a lot of things to improve yet. Obviously my players were looking forward to playing this game, and they were really looking forward to wining it, which they did. Had we lost by a difference of five or seven points, it would have been OK, too. We didn't have a few players who are quite important to us. All of the players there, however, contributed to the overall level of the team, and that's positive. I think we'll continue to improve."
"I think Sergio Llull is going to continue to knock on our door because he's a player growing and continuing to grow. He is very young, and he has to continue to learn. He has to consider that playing for Real Madrid is a mid-term challenge, but he has to take his opportunities. Some will be successful, some not. He's young and has to grow and continue to devleop as a player."
Real Madrid guard Louis Bullock
"I think it was a beautiful game for Spanish basketball and especially for the fans, and also for Garbajosa and Calderon, who returned to their country to put on a good show for the people here. And nothing else. Both teams have fought hard tonight, which made it a great experience for our team. And I think this game will help Toronoto a lot with its preseason. I am happy for my teammates, who worked hard tonight. I think this will help us get ready for tough games we have ahead."
"We want to win any game we play, but in the end, we have to use this game to improve our play. We've been together just three weeks since all the players came back from their national teams. This team is more than a practice for us. We need games to get better and get more comfortable with our new players, Lazaros Papadopoulos and Michailis Pelekanos, and that's that."
Real Madrid guard Sergio Llull
"We're very happy to have played and to have won this game. It has been a good game, a very even game and even more important, the people in the arena have enjoyed themselves. The truth is that, yes, I had a good game tonight, but I still have to do a lot to improve. I'm a young player and we have a lot of great players in Real Madrid so it will be difficult to win minutes with guards like Raul (Lopez)l and Kerem (Tunceri) on the team. I'll just keep playing hard in practice to win the trust of the coach."
Toronto Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell:
"I thought that Real Madrid played well, shot the ball really well from the three-point line. They just beat us up on the boards. Anytime you get beat the way we got beat on the glass, it's hard to win. We didn't shoot the ball real well. I have to give them credit, but I'm not making any excuses. They beat us and they deserved to win, because they just beat us up physically."
"It was a good game for us, without Chris Bosh, to get a chance for other guys to play. We talked about this in practice, understanding that we've got to rebound the basketball. Maybe, hopefully, this is wakeup call. For me, we're searching. We're trying to find some guys - we haven't set on a starting lineup yet - who can get in there and do the tough things. We have guys who can shoot the basketball, who can pass the ball, but we've got to find some guys who are going to go in there and do the dirty work, step in and do that role for us. We're tyring to find that person."
Toronto Raptors guard Jose Manuel Calderon:
"It was a good game for the fans. Real Madrid played a good game and our team is getting better by the day. We are 20 days away from the start of the regular season and there are still things that we have to improve."
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