By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
After two games in Madrid, Real holds a 2-0 lead over Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Head coach of the Spanish side, Sergio Scariolo, shared his remarks after a convincing Game 2 victory, emphasizing that nothing is over yet, despite Los Blancos being just one win away from the Final Four.
“We are in a great position, but we still need one more win. Winning by a bigger or smaller margin doesn’t change the bigger picture. Tavares’ absence was greatly felt, but his teammates made a great effort to compensate. Today it was enough, but we’ll see in the remaining games against a team we know very well — a very talented team, great at scoring. In the end, we have a 2-0 lead, but only three wins matter. Stranger things have happened in basketball, and that’s the only thing we need to focus on,” Scariolo said.
The series now moves to Bulgaria, where Hapoel will host Real Madrid, and the Italian tactician expects a much more difficult challenge.
“Crossing our fingers is not enough. We just need to focus on the next game, because it will be a tough task. It’s very difficult to win five games in a row against such a talented team. We will try to do our best.”
He also praised Usman Garuba for his performance in the absence of Edy Tavares.
“Usman had a great game. He responded really well on both sides of the court and to the added responsibility. Hopefully he continues like that in the remaining games — we need to count on him to get the wins we need,” Scariolo concluded.
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