This is what the protagonists had to say after the Round 34 showdown between AS Monaco and ALBA Berlin.
Post-game quotes: Monaco vs. ALBA
Sasa Obradovic, head coach, AS Monaco:
"We did a perfect second part of the season. We dominated, played great basketball. Me, as a coach, I have a lot of reasons to be happy. But this is the end of one competition, and now starts the other one. What good we did in the past, has to stay in the past. We should build up confidence for the best that is coming, which is the playoffs. It is always important to stay in rhythm. I think, the contribution from all the guys helped us to win. It is too early to have any thoughts about Olympiacos. Like I said, it is a completely different competition, so we should be ready."
Israel Gonzalez, head coach, ALBA Berlin:
"We could not play good defense today and they played very well. Congratulations to Monaco, they played an excellent game, they made very good baskets and we could not stop them tonight. About this season, we will remember how we are building a team spirit, how we suffered a lot of problems this year, but with these problems we could go on and I am happy with the work we did this EuroLeague season."
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Dwayne Bacon, guard, AS Monaco:
"It was a long season, but we fought. The first season in the EuroLeague. We feel like we accomplished something making the playoffs. And today was a good push to go into the playoffs. Christ Koumadje and I went to college together, so it's been years since I've been trying to get him [with a dunk], and I finally got him. I know he will be mad about it, but he is my guy. He competes at a high level. We competed at a high level, they competed at a high level, and I am just happy my team played as hard as we can to show we can fight for something. In the playoffs it will be very hard. Olympiacos plays very hard, they are very good, but anybody can be beaten if we come to play the right way every night."
Donatas Motiejunas, center, AS Monaco:
"Our coach always emphasized that we have to go into every game to win, and we came in ready. We gave all the energy, everyone played hard and it is a great team win from all of us. But having a coach who just amplifies that we have to win every game, that we are going to win every game with that kind of an attitude, it kind of makes it easy to come to the game and be ready. The regular season is over, we have to forget about it, draw a line. It is 0-0, we start with the playoffs. We have a huge fight ahead of us."