| 15.09.2011
Serbia Forward Dusko Savanovic:
"It was a very important game for us, but we didn't play at the level we were supposed to play if we wanted to win this game. They played very fast and aggressive basketball. Russia jumped and grabbed rebounds over our heads. We made too many turnovers and that's why we didn't win this game. We had some injuries but that's not an excuse. We'll try to forget this game and focus on the one we have early tomorrow, because we still want to make it to the Olympics."
Serbia Coach Dusan Ivkovic:
"I wish to congratulate Russia who were better tonight. They deserve this victory. The 10 point difference doesn't reflect the game as we were close to them for 40 minutes. Yet tonight was very difficult to play against them as they scored so many points from second chances and our turnovers. 37 of their 77 points were from these two aspects and that's a lot. Tonight if we had more focus we could have won the game. We missed Rasic and Tepic due to injuries and it's very difficult for us to organize our game without them, but it's not an excuse of course. The next game is maybe the most important, and we have a very short time to get ready for it. We will work hard to do the best to be ready for it, because we want to be in the Olympics. We need to show character to win tomorrow. We won't play the semi-finals as we expected, but we'll play to stay in the race to the Olympics."
Russia Head Coach David Blatt:
"Two years ago we played in the same phase against the same group of great players and the same great coach and we lost, as i said then, by a better team. We moved forward from there. We provided our players with the kind of teaching and culture it takes to build a successful national team. We got back two of our main players - Kirilenko and Khryapa - who didn't play in 2009, and you saw tonight how important they are, but the story is the other players who matured and are now a higher level basketball players. It's a sweet win, but the joy is short, because we play tomorrow in the semi-finals. We've had a great run so far. Today's victory is important but tomorrow's game is more important now, and we'll need to be ready. We asked Kirilenko to play within the system but seems like his best moments are coming not from the structure but from the mind and creativity he has. The lucky thing is that he's not selfish and he's playing for the team. I try to tell him very little how to play, because it seems that I only bother him. He did in the second half some things that I can't coach him to do and Coach Ivkovic can't prepare his players to. I saw France play a couple of times already. They are athletic in every position. They have two elements you look for - a great-great point guard and two players in the middle who can play with their back to the basket. They have very good defenders as well. i don't know how much more than this you need. it's going to be a very difficult game, just like any other game in this level of European Basketball, but we'll be ready and we'll do fine."
Russia Guard Aleksey Shved:
"We played against a very strong team and we won. it's a very exciting win for us. We played with great intensity on defense and stopped Serbia on 67 points. I don't think any other team stopped them on such a low score, and it shows just how well we did on defense today. We don't have a lot of time. Tomorrow we're already playing in the semi-finals and it's going to be a very difficult game. We'll do our best to prepare, and try to beat France to make it to the title game. It was very important for us to win this game and play in the semi-finals because it also means we're going to play next summer to be in the Olympics in case something goes wrong tomorrow versus France." |
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