Tuomas Iisalo (Paris coach): “We had an idea of how to steal a match here, and the guys executed it to perfection. It took a little luck, they missed a lot of free throws. Compared to Tuesday’s match (Monaco’s 90-80 victory), there are small tactical things that we explored, but above all it was a collective effort from the first minute. We knew what we were looking for, we got it. It was almost impossible to beat Monaco with the number of easy baskets we gave up in Game 1. It’s a mature performance. After pushing the guys to win matches 4 and 5 of the semi-finals, we had a hole on Tuesday for the start of the final. We learned our lesson. »
Sasa Obradovic (Monaco coach): “Paris deserves to win and we don’t, because of the way we played, the way we approached the match. It starts with 18 fouls called against Paris (11 in the first quarter) which were deliberately made to break the rhythm. And we don’t react. We don’t make free throws, then we lose concentration. Once again, we are not behaving the way champions are supposed to behave. I don’t think we were in a state of vigilance, saying to ourselves that we could lose against this team. It is the arrogance that accompanies us in many important situations. Of course, there are also the great performances of (Nadir) Hifi and (TJ) Shorts. But we said we had to win the rebound. And we lose (43 holds to 35). Taking 77 points against this team is not excessive but we really managed the transition between the two matches badly. »
