A quick collection of quotes for you, collected yesterday and today at various press conferences and media meetings. With just hours to go before tipoff, enjoy a bit of wit and wisdom from coaches and players on BallinEurope.
On Paris
“It is […] special to have the Final Four in Paris. This is the city that never sleeps, with a lot of life, the best place to organize this kind of competition.” – Partizan head coach Dusko Vujosevic
On playing in the Final Four
“The semifinal is the most difficult game for me, because everybody is thinking about the final. If you don’t respect your opponent in the semifinal, you don’t get to the final.” – CSKA Moscow head coach Evgeny Pashutin
“[Trajan] Langdon, [Ramunas] Siskauskas and [J.R.] Holden know what this is all about. They have played many Final Fours. I had to watch them all on TV, but now I can compete in one at age 19. I’m looking forward to it.” – Ricky Rubio
“I’m excited. This is the biggest moment of my career.” – Pops Mensah-Bonsu
On pressure
“We had a wonderful season, our best one. … All eyes will be on us, but that doesn’t have to stress us. You don’t what will happen and that is the beauty of sports.” – Partizan head coach Dusko Vejosevic
On strategy
“CSKA has characteristically won behind its four outside players: Holden, [Zoran] Planinic, Siskauskas, and Langdon – that won’t be much different from last season. We have to set the pace and be able to control difficult situations.”
“[CSKA Moscow is] a very experienced team that maintains its playing style no matter if they are winning or losing. We have to play in the same way that we did all season … Our game rhythm must start with good defense and from there go to the running game. I guess they will try to slow down the tempo.” – Juan Carlos Navarro
“Partizan has good big guys. They’re always in the three-second zone. All four teams that are here have great big guys. It will be a great matchup in the post.” – Linas Kleiza
“Nobody gave us anything and we earned the right to be here by playing well and winning difficult games. We have to play better, however, if we want to beat Olympiacos tomorrow. We have to stay focused from the very beginning until the last second. Every game can go down to the last second: You have to see the Adriatic League final and what happened in the last 0.6 to see what I am talking about.” – Slavko Vranes
On the players
“Every time I jump on the court, my opponent tries to defend me and he doesn’t think about how old I am. No matter if you are 15 or 35, he wants to kill you. The most important thing is to be yourself.” – Ricky Rubio
“I know Milos Teodosic very well; we played together in Zeleznik. He is a very good player and is in top shape right now. [He’s] maybe the best player at his position. We have to stop him and his pick-and-roll game. If we manage to do that, we will get closer to winning the game.” – Aleksandar Rasic
“Listen: It’s been an excellent two years. It’s been a growing experience, yes, but I never saw this as a temporary fix. I thought of it as a three-year deal, and it could very well end that way.” – Josh Childress, on whether he’ll be returning to the Atlanta Hawks for the 2010-11 season.
“Hats off to him.” – Pops Mensah-Bonsu on Childress’ accomplishments with Olympiacos
“I give Bo McCalebb a lot of credit. He’s been playing excellent this year. He’s been a driving force for [Partizan] along with other guys. We gotta mix some thing up and it will be an interesting battle. We have to keep McCalebb out of the lane. We have to make him shoot more jump shots…” – Scoonie Penn
The last word
“You don’t need any extra motivation. If you need that, it means you don’t know where you are. This is the Final Four.” – Ricky Rubio
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