Check out what the coaches and players are saying ahead of Round 17 of the 2025-26 EuroLeague season
Pregame quotes, Round 17: 'This is a chance for us to learn'
Članak
8 Min čitanja
Friday, December 19
Anadolu Efes Istanbul vs. Dubai Basketball (18:30 CET)
Pablo Laso, Efes head coach
"Of course, it will be a difficult game, as all games in the EuroLeague are. Dubai Basketball has had a great season so far. Although it is their first year in the EuroLeague, they have several experienced players who have played at this level in EuroLeague for years, along with some who have NBA experience. So, no doubt it would be a tough game for us. Personally, this will be my first home game, and I am very happy to experience the incredible atmosphere. With our busy schedule, it’s possible that Dubai will arrive in Istanbul even before we do. We need to move past whatever just happened - good or bad - and quickly prepare ourselves for another big game. As I’ve said before, we need everyone ready, because this will be a long journey and we must be prepared every game."
Jordan Loyd, Efes guard
"Dubai is a great team with a lot of weapons. Obviously, we need to be locked in on individual defensive assignments, but collectively we must also be on the same page. Right now, we feel we can build on our previous games, and our goal is to keep moving in the right direction, day by day. Ultimately, it’s more about us and the progress our team is making, step by step. We appreciate our fans for their constant support, and we can’t wait to see them against Dubai."
Jurica Golemac, Dubai head coach
"Every opponent in the EuroLeague is the same, very tough. They are injured, but some of them have come back, which for sure is very important for them. So they are playing lately very good with a different energy, with a different system, I would say. So we're going to need to be very physical, need to be very, very good in the closing our rebounds and try to run as much as we can. On the road, it's very important to get easy baskets."
McKinley Wright, Dubai guard
"It's going to be tough. It will be great atmosphere, I'm assuming. [Efes has] a new coach, a new style of basketball they're playing. They're moving the ball a lot. They got a lot of talented guys over there, got a really good big man down there in the center of the paint. I'm sure it'll be physical. It'll be a tough environment. We got to just try to be more physical and get out of this run and transition as much as possible. They're sharing the ball really well right now. I watched them play, they got a big road win at Zalgiris last night. I know it's hard to win there. They play team collective basketball. So we just got to try to take them out of transition, take their shooters away, make them drivers, and make their drivers shoot."
Zalgiris Kaunas vs. Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade (19:00 CET)
Mirko Ocokoljic, Partizan head coach
"We have a tough game ahead. We’re playing against a team that includes top Lithuanian players along with several international players, led by Nigel Williams-Goss, Sylvain Francisco and Moses Wright. They were the biggest surprise at the start of the EuroLeague season. However, they had a slightly weaker performance [on Wednesday], similar to us. We need to analyze our mistakes and approach the game differently than we did [against Virtus]."
Shake Milton, Partizan guard
"We need to prepare for Zalgiris by watching the game footage. It’s a long season, so we have to stay focused and find the right energy. We need to play smarter and make sure we don’t repeat the same mistakes."
AS Monaco vs. FC Bayern Munich (19:30 CET)
Vassilis Spanoulis, Monaco head coach
"We're going through a rough patch right now. We're not playing at the level we want to be at, and we're not producing good basketball. We need to find a solution, and that starts with bringing the right energy to the court from the get-go. We need to find consistency and rise up together. That's how we'll rediscover our basketball and our principles of play. A season is long, and it's normal to have ups and downs."
Gordon Herbert, Bayern head coach
"It's about how we execute our attacks on offense; we finally have to take better care of the ball. We have to value possession more, and allow fewer easy baskets on defense. Monaco is one of the most talented teams in the EuroLeague and they're playing at home. It's going to be a tough challenge. The guys always give their all and fight hard, but we definitely need to improve a few things."
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (20:15 CET)
Georgios Bartzokas, Olympiacos head coach
"ASVEL is a solid team, a team that plays hard. Many of the games they have lost were decided in the final three to five minutes. They fight everywhere; you saw that they beat Bayern, they never give up in any game. I think it’s unnecessary to say it every time, but every EuroLeague game is difficult, every game hides traps. You have to play well if you want to win, and I think everyone can draw that conclusion from [Round 16's] results as well. There is no easy game, and that’s how we need to approach it."
Frank Ntilikina, Olympiacos guard
"It’s always nice to play against familiar faces. It will be a big game, especially for us since we need the win, particularly at home. We always talk in the locker room and with the coaching staff about how to improve, whether we’ve won or lost. There is always room for improvement."
FC Barcelona vs. Kosner Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (20:30 CET)
Xavi Pascual, Barcelona head coach
"We have to follow this line of being ambitious, of having this motivation to win every game, and knowing how to do it well, too. When you win several games in a row, you also have to continue wanting to win another time and not to relax mentally. If you relax a little bit in the EuroLeague, or the Spanish League, the other team can beat you. Beyond that, each game has different characteristics. We have to play against a rival that is doing very well. In the last 10 games Baskonia has been 6-4, with a winning record. By beating Monaco, they have proved they are in a great moment, with very good scorers, with good players, a very difficult team that we will have to face on Friday at Palau. We are a team. Everyone has to contribute, everyone has to be there. It is a very long season and we need everyone here, and everyone is doing it. When it's their turn, they do it. I am very happy about that. We are in the month of December, there is no possibility of dropping any player, much less. On the contrary, we need all of them. Toko [Shengelia] needs a little more time. Jan [Vesely] is questionable until the last moment, I don't know if we will have him or not. And for Lapro [Nico Laprovittola], we are more optimistic, but we will also wait until the last moment. Let's see how today's practice goes to be able to decide."
Will Clyburn, Barcelona forward
"Everybody is on the same page here. We are playing well together. It's always good when you win. Everybody is always there for you when you win. Obviously, we are just in a good level right now and that's how the season goes sometimes. The team is doing a great job this year. We are fighting, playing for each other and buying into the coach's system, doing exactly what he tells us to do, and we are finding a way to get wins. And anytime you can do that, it's always a great year. We know that we can't give up 100 points or 90 points to win games. Obviously, always our offense is not going to be the best, so we have to kind of depend on the defensive end to get stops and try to stop them as much as possible, even when we are having tough scoring nights. We are going to have guys that are going to have off days, off weeks, and it was always for the next guy to step up and do their thing. So it's always next guy up, in my opinion. And that's what a team is for, to watch each other's back and pick up when other guys are kind of slacking. So hopefully one day when I'm slacking or not playing the best, someone else is going to pick up from me as well."
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade vs. Virtus Bologna (20:45 CET)
Sasha Obradovic, Crvena Zvezda head coach
"We need to rest well, because we need energy compared to this schedule and a slightly shorter rotation. We did one training session after [the game in] Jerusalem, where you can't go into too much detail. Although Virtus is a very demanding opponent. The way they play can cause you problems. Not only for us, they have beaten many teams already. They have serious chemistry. They immediately found an answer after the defeat in Milan and played really dominantly on Wednesday. They are versatile on offense, although we know that the X-factors are [Carsen] Edwards and [Matt] Morgan. We have to be careful on defense."
Jared Butler, Crvena Zvezda guard
"On a three-game losing streak, we just have to stay calm. This is not the time for us to panic, we have to pull ourselves together and continue together. Even the best teams have to suffer at some point in the season, this is a chance for us to learn. Our goal is still to be the best at the end of the season."
Dusko Ivanovic, Virtus head coach
"Tomorrow we will face a completely different team from the one we faced yesterday. After the change on the bench, they are playing really well: they already had a good team and now they are playing with a lot of energy, with clear ideas on how to attack. Red Star is a team that manages to create play from many one-on-one situations, with many players who can hurt you in isolation; they are probably the best team in transition and also have good solutions inside the area. To beat Red Star, we will need to play even better than yesterday."
Alessandro Pajola, Virtus guard
"We're definitely in for another battle, as this is another very heated ground, perhaps even more so than yesterday's. They're a team in absolutely top form. I had the opportunity to watch Red Star's match against Hapoel, a game in which they fought until the very end despite being away from home. Certainly, since they changed coaches, they have gained an extra gear in terms of energy and confidence on the court. They have also added a very important player in Jared Butler. As always, we will have to focus on ourselves, our game plan and our choices."
Thursday, December 18
Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv vs. Valencia Basket (20:05 CET)
Jean Montero, Valencia guard
"No EuroLeague game is easy. Any team can beat you on a day when you're low on energy. We have to stay focused, keep our feet on the ground, and try to win the game in Israel as well. Above all, we have to try to impose our shooting rhythm. That's going to be very important, along with defense and intensity, for the entire 40 minutes of the game."
Neal Sako, Valencia center
"We know they play a bit like us. I think we need to play very well together as a team and with intensity to hope to win and stop their three-game winning streak. We are a team with a lot of rotations, so we have energy until the end of the game because we play with 12 players. Other teams usually play with 10 or nine players. So I think everyone knows that this allows us to make a comeback like we did yesterday."
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens vs. Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv (20:15 CET)
Ergin Ataman, Panathinaikos head coach
"So far they are the best team and they are in first place. It will be a difficult game, with experienced players and a very good coach. They score a lot in the paint with [Johnathan] Motley and [Dan] Oturu. The big shots will be the key. We have to start from the first minute — everyone, players, coaches and fans — being aggressive, so they can feel they are playing at the Telekom Center Athens, a very tough arena. Everyone likes playing in this arena and in this atmosphere. Everyone must be aggressive and we must play the right basketball. We see that [Richaun Holmes] is healthy now. He hasn’t played for six or seven weeks, so tomorrow we’ll see if he will be on the roster and how many minutes he can play. He needs more games. It’s a difficult match and we will think about how to use him tomorrow."
Kenneth Faried, Panathinaikos center
"We approach it like every game. We never want to lose — the goal is always to win. We know they are first in the standings and they are a very good team, but we will play our game and go for the back-to-back. This double week has been tough for Panathinaikos, with only one day in between games, including travel and practice — basically no rest."
Dimitris Itoudis, Hapoel head coach
"We’re playing against Panathinaikos, one of the best EuroLeague teams of the last decades. It’s a very challenging game for us, and we accept that challenge. Both teams are coming off a win, but what matters most is the structure of the game. Panathinaikos has everything, and in the great atmosphere of OAKA, with their fans, it won’t be easy at all. Finally, it always feels special for me to come back to OAKA. The arena has been beautifully renovated, but more than that, it’s the feeling - this was my home for 13 years. So, it’s always special."
Tyler Ennis, Hapoel guard
"This game is a great test for us to continue improving, continue building as a team, and hopefully come out with a win."
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan vs. Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (20:30 CET)
Peppe Poeta, Milan head coach
"It will be another extremely challenging test for us against the defending champions. Fenerbahce has the best defensive organization in the entire EuroLeague, is well-coached, and has a high level of physicality that they know how to use. Our ability to have a good pace and rhythm will be crucial for us."
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Fenerbahce head coach
"Milano is a team that's playing very good basketball. They're on a roll. For us, it's very important to have a better game than we did against the Panathinaikos to try to react."
Khem Birch, Fenerbahce center
"Just got to be focused. We came off a bad loss last night. I feel like you just gotta stay focused and do what we usually do and not turn the ball over. Less turnovers and defense will be the keys for winning."
Real Madrid vs. Paris Basketball (20:45 CET)
Sergio Scariolo, Real Madrid head coach
"Paris Basketball is a very special team, very different from many others. It is the team that scores the most, has the most pace and speed, scores the most from the three-point line, and is the best at offensive rebounding. It has tremendous offensive potential and great speed. In close games like the ones we've been playing lately, the first challenge will be just that: to be able to contain their transition, especially with [Nadir] Hifi and [Justin] Robinson's acceleration, and to be able to do so without losing sight of the others because Paris has many good shooters who can receive and shoot from the perimeter. That's the task at hand, and offensively, we have to be alert because Paris defends very aggressively, all over the court, throughout the game, using the “two-on-one,” and we have to be able to move the ball well. Tomorrow we have a game in which we will have to use the dribble intelligently, not abuse it, give prominence to the fast pass to find the open player, and trust in achieving a three-point shooting percentage that allows us to compete against all these teams with great shooting ability from midrange, such as Paris Basketball."
Facundo Campazzo, Real Madrid guard
"We expect a fast-paced game. Paris Basketball is a team that plays a lot of possessions, the most in the EuroLeague. They also score the most points and make the most three-pointers... We know what it means to play against a team like this because more and more teams are opting for this style of play. We have to try to set our pace to control the game and play good defense. When we control the defense and are aggressive at the back, we always attack fluidly and good things happen. I expect it to be a beautiful game for the fans to watch and very demanding for us. We have a good challenge ahead of us to improve on what we did yesterday."
