Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse is in its second 7DAYS EuroCup season and so is big man Pierre Pelos, who has been one of the French powerhouse's pillars in the competition. Pelos started his professional career with Valence and Auch in the French fourth division. Slowly but steadily, he climbed the ladder to play for teams in higher levels such as Elan Bearnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez, L'Union Lourdes-Tarbes Pyrenees Basket, Saint Chamond Basket Valle du Gier and FOS Provence Basket. This is his second stint with Bourg, which he first joined for the 2016-17 campaign. Pelos will tell us all about what is happening with Bourg, his personal experience in the EuroCup and much more this season in his EuroCupbasketball.com blog.
Pierre Pelos: 'The EuroCup is really hard'
Blogs
5 Mins read
This is the second EuroCup season, not just for me, but also for the team. For me, the EuroCup is a very big experience. I think it is a better championship than the French League. I have played against many players like me, who focus more on having a high basketball IQ than physicality. It is a very good championship and it is important for Bourg to be back to the EuroCup for a second consecutive season. It has been a good experience for the club.
We have a new team this season, with some new players. Only three players, Eric Mika, JaCorey Williams and Maxime Roos, have played in the EuroCup before. Other guys like Axel Julien, Alexandre Chassang and our coach played in Europe, but not in the EuroCup.
We are 2-4 now and lost against some big games like Valencia and Gran Canaria - that was a really tough game for us. We will try to keep playing better this season. Playing the EuroCup for the second season is definitely an advantage. Last season, it was also my first one in the EuroCup and I had a good season. I discovered the EuroCup and I am sure a lot of people wondered who Pierre Pelos was! Now, every team knows me and the referees, too, so it is more difficult for me. All teams have more options against me; everybody switches and tries to stop me. Last season, being a rookie, things were easier. Nobody tried to stop me!
"Last season, I discovered the EuroCup and I am sure a lot of people wondered who Pierre Pelos was! Now, every team knows me and the referees, too, so it is more difficult for me."
We just beat Bursaspor this season. We wanted to win for Eric Mika, who got injured. He will be out for three months, maybe a bit less. We only had nine senior players, but managed to play a very good game. It is not the first time that we had a good game with only nine senior players. It was better for everybody; we all had the opportunity to play. We played hard, with a lot of energy, and were more focused, making less mistakes, defensively and offensively. Everybody played well against Bursaspor. I had a pretty good start and continued like that throughout the game.
We have two wins, but both of them were by 30 points, against Promitheas and Bursaspor. We need to win on the road because we already lost at home against Reyer. We didn't play well in that first game, it was our first game together in the EuroCup and you could tell Reyer had been playing together for a while, playing a good game. We played well against Promitheas, but then went to Gran Canaria and scored 3 points in the first quarter. That was not good for the team. We need to win on the road and our next game is in Ulm, which just beat Gran Canaria. Every game in the EuroCup is hard!
So, we are focusing on beating Ulm. After that, we face Buducnost at home and Virtus on the road. If you look at the standings, Buducnost is first in our group. It is a very good team that already beat Valencia and Virtus. It played in the EuroLeague a couple of years ago, was in the EuroCup Playoffs last year and I would say they are even better this season. And Virtus is also one of the best teams in the competition.
I like the new format a lot. We made it to the Top 16 last season but had injury problems and played some games with maybe seven or eight players. This year, the competition is even harder. I believe Group B is very, very tough. Every game is tough; Cedevita Olimpija is 2-4 right now. We lost against them and every team has to battle hard to beat such a strong team. Valencia is back in the EuroCup this season, Virtus made it to the semifinals last season... the EuroCup is really hard!
"I would say that my best game in the EuroCup was against Partizan last season. We won and I played really well. Great memories!"
We don't have Partizan in our group, however. I would say that my best game in the EuroCup was against Partizan last season. We won and I played really well. Great memories! I have to say it is much easier to play against Partizan with no fans in the gym. Last week, Partizan played against Metropolitans in France and around 300 fans came to see the game. This is amazing, and it is really hard to play against its fans. Luckily, we are in the other group, even though we have Valencia and Virtus. These are the three favorites, in my opinion, to win the EuroCup. We will see who else makes it to the semifinals - maybe us! I have no idea, the EuroCup is really hard.
We travel a lot but don't have much time to see the cities we arrive in. The club is doing great: every time we go to a new city, we have a translator who talks to the players and staff. I remember we went to Istanbul in our first game last season, and there was a guy on the bus speaking French and English, talking about the city's history. It is great, but I wish I had more time to see the places we go to!
That's all from me for now, wish us luck!