ACB – semi-final – day 3
BarçaReal Madrid
Abrines, who never goes overboard, reproached Tavares for his attitude at the end of the match. Da Silva, another one who is not one to bray, vigorously protested a couple of personnel who pointed out to him; Grimau cried to heaven on several occasions, dissatisfied with the refereeing and the result; and Vesely, still in the second quarter, was sent off because he committed an unsportsmanlike foul and, later, angrily, he protested a decision to add a technical and the end of the game. “Vesely has been key as in the Cup final, I think we are super conditioned with the refereeing and to beat Madrid we have to play much better than them…”, resolved Juan Carlos Navarro, manager of Barcelona’s basketball area. But the lamentations and protests, looking at the referee, is an excuse that no one at Barcelona buys, now that the team has endured a season without winning anything. Nor did Navarro himself, aware that the team had not drawn a blank for four years, the poisoned icing on the cake for the club because the football team has also come face to face with reality. A defect that has not been duplicated in both for 16 years.
With a sad face and his head bowed, Grimau appeared before the media to admit defeat, the fiasco. “At Barça you have to play well when you have to and fight for titles, being in a position to win them at least. And this season, with the exception of the Copa del Rey, where we did reach the final, we have not done so in the other two major competitions,” accepted the coach, who has always demanded more of himself than others, self-critical like few others. His continuity, of course, is in doubt after being promoted from the reserve team and taking over the bench in the summer after the goodbye of Jasikevicius. “We have to make changes because we have not reached the objectives,” Navarro resolved without ambiguity; “But I can’t answer now whether the coach will continue or not. You have to think, reflect, talk to him too… Not everything has been the coach, as some players have not been up to par. Well, no one has been, we also get into the same bag.” Grimau, who also did not want to say if he felt he had the strength to continue because of being hot on the elimination, picked up the baton: “We are talking after a defeat, about finishing the season. It is known how I feel about this club and now I am very annoyed. It’s a bad time and I have to reflect, think; I need time to analyze everything more fully.” But he is clear that it does not depend on him: “I’m not an idiot. The season has not been good. So as of now I don’t know.”
He is not the only one who doubts. “I will not decide my future in a hurry, I want to have a cool head to be able to evaluate everything,” said Ricky Rubio. Nor does it seem that Jokubaitis or Kalinic, among others, will continue, whom Navarro himself pointed out while adding that he had not liked certain attitudes in the locker room. It happens, in any case, that the uncertainties engulf Barcelona, which has failed in its project. “We have not reached the objectives. It was a transition season with many changes, but we have not reached the Final Four of the Euroleague, we lose 3-0 now… We are a little disappointed,” Navarro clarified. This is how the dressing room saw it. “I have a feeling of great disappointment. Not reaching the Final Four affected us too much and we have not known how to close that page to concentrate on the League against some guys who have had the best year of all the teams,” Satoransky revealed. “I’m angry, sad and screwed because I didn’t want it to end here. We deserved to move forward, to have more opportunities. Barça is one of the biggest clubs in the world and they demand that we be in the finals and win titles. We have not achieved the objectives and there is no choice but to assimilate, face, learn and work. “That’s life,” Hernangómez added. “I’m disappointed because the season is ending and we haven’t won anything. With the level of demand that we have, it hurts that we are already on vacation,” added Captain Abrines; “We have been capable of the best and the worst. A team like Barça must be more stable, have more continuity.”
Navarro will evaluate all of this together with the vice president and head of the area Josep Cubells. “We will surely make adjustments to compete more,” insisted the section manager; “because this has not gone well. It was a bet, a radical change with a lower budget and it has not worked out.” This is how Grimau accepted it: “Surely more could be done. We are at Barça and we haven’t won. The team has shown that we have played very good basketball at times. But we haven’t arrived. I am the coach and the person in charge. It can be managed in a different way, putting someone else in… In the end you have lost. And not winning is not right.”
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2024-06-03 06:15:38
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