Laso: “We'll have to play a very good game if we want to win”

Madrid, 23 Mar Pablo Laso, coach of Real Madrid who after last night's tight defeat on the Anadolus Efes court visits Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday, on matchday 32 of the Euroleague, highlighted that his rival “has outside players very capable of scoring”, so they must “play a good match” to win. “Maccabi is always very competitive in their field, there is a lot of atmosphere in the stands and it is difficult to play there. Against Anadolu Efes we did a lot of things well in important aspects of the game such as ball movement, assists, rebound, shooting percentages and defensively we were good, but on Thursday everything will be different and we must be prepared”, commented Laso, in statements provided by his club. For the Madrid coach, whose team holds second place in the Euroleague standings, Maccabi “has outside players very capable of scoring such as Wilbekin, Evans or DiBartolomeo and even some insides who play practically outside such as Williams or Caloiaro”. “In addition, it has Zizic and Reynolds who are two very solid centers. It is a very dynamic and difficult team to defend, although it needs the success of its outside men so that the insides can grow”, he added. The change of coach suffered by Maccabi in February has brought good effects for the team, which is currently seventh, in the play-off place. “Despite the change of coach and having introduced different defensive and offensive options, he has maintained an identity that has allowed him not to lose at home since December. All this tells us that we will have to play a very good match if we want to win,” said Laso. Hungarian forward Ádán Hanga has been confident with the recovery of his team, after the last setbacks suffered, noting that they must stay “with the positive side of the match against Anadolu Efes”. “We know about the difficulties of this double day of Euroleague that we played away from home against two very strong teams. We have to stay with the positive side of the match against Anadolu Efes, in which we played much better and were more fluid in attack,” he said. “That's what we have to broadcast tomorrow, although we are aware that playing in Tel Aviv is always difficult, as Maccabi have a great fans and are struggling to get into the playoff. On Tuesday we regained the confidence we had lacked in recent games, we found comfortable shots, we defended well and that's how we should play against Maccabi”, he added.