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Andres Rodriguez, PGE Turow
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In his second season with PGE Turow Zgorzelec, point guard Andres Rodriguez is not surprised in the least that his team will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with better known ones with much longer histories at the ULEB Cup Final Eight in Turin, Italy next month. As a smart playmaker who rarely makes mistakes, Rodriguez is one of the three Puerto Ricans in the Final Eight, along with Christian Dalmau and Rick Apodaca of Besiktas JK ColaTurka. Rodriguez has been playing for coach Saso Filipovski for three seasons, including one the spent together in the Euroleague with Union Olimpija of Slovenia. Rodriguez ranked fourth in total assists in the ULEB Cup this season, and his averages of 6.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.1 steals show how important his all-around game has been for Turow. The best-kept secret in Zgorzelec is team chemistry and Rodriguez has no problem talking about that in this ULEBcup.com interview. "We all live close to each other and the city is small, so the players and their families are always together," Rodriguez told ULEBcup.com. "The team chemistry is great and it shows on the court, too."
Hi Andres. First of all, congratulations to you and Turow for reaching the Final Eight. Who would have believed it in the beginning of the season?
"Thanks a lot. Well, other than us, nobody would have believed it! It has been an interesting road to the Final Four. We grew as a team every day, played really well. Sometimes it is tough for us because the Polish League rules are stricter than the ULEB Cup rules. Coach did a great job to adjust the team to all competitions. We managed to win a lot of games, playing good basketball and becoming one of the best teams in the ULEB Cup. Our goal was to reach the Final Eight and we’ve achieved it already."
Turow already shook some heads when it beat Unics in Kazan. That was a first message sent out to everyone. Did that win prove to yourselves that you guys could beat anyone, anywhere from that point?
"Well, this was the win that gave us the feeling that we had a good team and could reach higher than we thought at the beginning. It was our first road win and against Unics, which also made it to the Final Eight in the end. It was a great win for us."
The series against Nymburk was also quite thrilling. How much of a disadvantage was it for your team to play both games in the Czech Republic?
"It was an interesting experience. They had a lot of fans in the stands, but it was all good. It is always a bit tough play your home games in a different country. We have very loyal fans that traveled all the way to that arena, but they are not enough to sell it out. We managed to play in front of an almost sell-out crowd against Nymburk and that was beautiful thing for everybody. We thought it would be easier because after all, we were playing the decisive game at home, but Nymburk is a good team and it was tough to survive that series."
Your team played one of its best games of the season in Kyiv and managed to hold off a late rally in the second leg. You personally played a key role, scoring critical baskets in the final minutes of that second game. How much do you like to take responsibilities when the going gets tough?
"Everyone wants to have the responsibility, the ball in their hands in the decisive moment at the end of the game. When you are a kid, you always dream to have that opportunity. It was not planned, we just executed our system and it went that way, it was not that I wanted to take the final shot or anything like that. Everything is very structured in our team. I had the ball in that situation and had to do something with the shot clock running down. Fortunately, I managed to score a couple of important baskets, just like David [Logan] did after me. He had the key basket in the final seconds."
Now in the quarterfinals you face Dynamo Moscow, a team that already knows what it takes to win the competition. What do you know about Dynamo and what do you have to do to win the game?
"We haven't checked out Dynamo and have not had time to scout them. Accidentally, we saw then play against Nymburk when we were scouting Nymburk for the first elimination rounds. It is a great team, that had a great season and features Henry Domercant, the ULEB Cup MVP and a great shooter. It has a lot of players with Euroleague experience, who play in one of the best domestic leagues in Europe. It will be tough, because they run the floor very well and have one of the best coaches in Europe in Svetislav Pesic. In a single-game situation, everything can happen. We’ll keep our heads high and will try to play our game, especially on defense, hoping we will keep our chances alive until the final buzzer."
Turow has no big egos on its roster and everyone seems to be clear that defense is the key and that wins only come by helping each other. How do you guys preserve that outstanding team chemistry?
"First of all, our coach helps us a lot. He likes to protect us, on and off the court. He always did the same and this year was not an exception. He’s kept a core of players from last season and some came around to improve the roster. It has worked out very well. We all know that defense is the most important thing. Everyone can score, but defense is a team concept. That gave us a good record so far this season. Definitely, defense is a key for us. Also, we all live close to each other and the city is small, so the players and their families are always together. We go out to have lunch or dinner and spend most of the time together. The team chemistry is great and it shows on the court, too."
Of course, coach Saso Filipovski is a main part of your success. You and Dragisa Drobnjak already worked with him at Union Olimpija. How is coach Filipovski helping you this season to become a better player and how confident do you feel playing for him?
"He definitely helped me to understand the European game. I always get to learn more and more every day. He is a very strict coach when it comes to systems, but he likes to teach, too. I have been with him for three years and I’ve learned a lot. A lot of players that don't work for him anymore say the same: Coach Filipovski teaches you how to play at a very high level of European basketball. He gave me a lot of confidence ever since the Olimpija days, making me feel comfortable on the court."
Nobody expected Turow to reach this far, but you have surpassed all the expectations. How far can Turow go in the ULEB Cup and how is the atmosphere in Zgorzelec just days before the big game against Dynamo?
"Everyone is happy about it, no doubt about it. Even with that, we are fighting to win the Polish League regular season and the Polish Cup final four is the weekend before we go to Italy. I hope it won't affect us too much, but we must take one game at the time, which is one of the keys to our success this season. I am sure that we will be ready to face Dynamo when game time arrives. We are not satisfied with what we did and we have a good chance to beat Dynamo, as much as they have to beat us. That is the mentality that may allow us to upset Dynamo... along with defense, of course."
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Thursday, March 27, 2008
Javier Gancedo, ULEBCup.com
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