This is what the protagonists had to say after the semifinals showdown between Valencia Basket and Virtus Segafredo Bologna.
Post-game quotes: Valencia vs. Virtus
Virtus Segafredo Bologna head coach Sergio Scariolo:
"I think it is time to be satisfied about the game. Not euphoric, because this is a semifinal, not a final. But we have to give credit to the team. They did a good job. I think we had kind of a control of the game during the whole 40 minutes. Probably we lost it a little bit in the third quarter. But then I like the reaction we had. We had a couple of very proud and brave plays in those moments. We opened a gap again and we managed to control it until the end. The main idea was to mirror [Bojan] Dubljevic with [Toko] Shengelia. By mirroring I mean to keep Shengelia on the floor when 'Dubi' was on the floor, because we knew in which great shape he was and what a great player he is, so that was the idea of why we started with Kevin [Hervey] and then we played basically Toko on Dubljevic every time he was on the floor. And that's it. I give credit to the players. We didn't rebound as well as we could, or shoot threes as well as we could. But we played good defense and shared the ball, having a good contribution from, I would say, every player who stepped on the court. Good win but again, it is not over. We have the most important and the most difficult one in front of us next week."
Valencia Basket head coach Joan Peñarroya:
"First of all, congratulations to Virtus. I think they were better than us. Second and most important, congratulations to La Fonteta. We finally saw a fantastic atmosphere here, and it is a pity that the team didn't play the game it needed for our fans go back home happy. I don't complain at all about our willingness or the desire that the players showed to win the game. But it is clear that we didn't play well and they were better than us. Those 21 two-point shots that we allowed in the first half without reaching the foul bonus, in a game like this, is too much of an advantage against a great opponent. In the second half, they only scored 8. We didn't hit shots on offense, and if we had the same defensive disposition in the first two quarters, the game would have been different. It is a hard loss because we wanted to get further and win the competition, but we faced a team that was better tonight."
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Tornike Shengelia, Virtus Segafredo Bologna forward:
"We fought. We maintained the lead, even though in the fourth quarter they came back strong and tried to turn the game around. But, you know, we kept our cool, and we are a very experienced team. It's about one more. All this that brought us here is about one more. This is what we dream of, this is why we practice hard, this is why we play. And I think we're ready."
Virtus Segafredo Bologna guard Isaia Cordinier:
"Defense was the key. That is what we worked on for the last two months. We are getting better, and that has to be our identity. Tonight, we played very well defensively and offensively, even when we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, which is something that we should work on. That was a great team win. As a group, we were really solid. We have to keep going. We have one more to go. I want to thank the Virtus fans for travelling over here. We heard their support, and that was very important for us."
Valencia Basket guard Sam Van Rossom:
"In the end, they were the better team. We tried and fought until the end. I think we didn't hit as many shots as we did in other games but like I said, we fought hard and they were better than us."