Loko’ head coach gave the interview to the club’ press office before the game against Yenisey.
- – What should Loko do to defeat Yenisey?
- – It's a good question, but to take it plain and simple, to score more points than the opponent and to receive less. But seriously, I think they play very good basketball. They have roles in the team, really good. Everybody knows what is their role on the team. They have two amazing ballhandlers, creators for the team – Jeremiah Martin and Xavier Rathan-Mayes. And everybody else just follows them and plays, let's say, good team basketball. From the start until now, they're just playing the same level of basketball, and that's why they're so successful. So in order for us to beat them, we're going to have to play a great team defense.
- – Are you satisfied with the defense that Loko showed against MBA?
- – Most of the time, yes. Most of the game, yes. There were some mistakes, some things we could do much better. But MBA is a team that can shoot the ball very well. They play good team basketball, and it was quite a challenge for us. I think we managed to overcome all the challenges they put in front of us and made them score below 70 points.
- – Yenisey will arrive from Minsk. Do you think it's an advantage for Loko that they travel a lot before this game?
- – We also traveled a lot to come back to Krasnodar.
- – But you played against MBA two days earlier.
- – Yes, but the thing is that for us it's an advantage to play at home. Regardless, we don't try to think about too much what kind of schedule the opponent has. We try to focus on ourselves. So, on ourselves, the most important thing is that we recover from the tough trips we had, tough games we had, and prepare very well for this game. And our advantage is our fans.
- – The final question is about the national team. It is known that you stay with Slovenia until 2025. What do you feel about this?
- – I feel honored to have support from the federation. To be a coach of your national team, of your country, that's one of the biggest achievements somebody can have. And we have the opportunity to play again in the Olympics. We have the opportunity to play Eurobasket. It's something that every coach would wish for.
Share with Friends: