Shabazz Napier, Milan: 'Today was a great team effort'

Ettore Messina, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan head coach
“It was a very important night, especially for our fans. We feel bad for them, even if we know why we could not have a better season. I think it’s been a very good game; everybody helped, everybody competed. We had moments of very good defense and very good offense. I think this can help us gain confidence before heading the Italian League playoffs. When you play against Barcelona, you need to play a good game and hope they play a little below their level. That happened tonight, but the line is thin. The good thing is that we left the competition at home with a good taste [in our mouths].
“We are happy because we could win for the seventh time in a row in front of our fans and have them enjoy another good performance in the EuroLeague. It’s been a day when we showed one more time that the team played together [as a team] after suffering a lot in the first part of the EuroLeague season. So, I want to congratulate the players and the fans again. They created a nice atmosphere, even today. We hope to find the self-coinfidence from this performance in preparing the playoffs in Italy."
Saras Jasikevicius, FC Barcelona head coach
“We suffered [due to] our bad mental preparation, that’s why we suffered. I think Milan is very good team, but we suffered [due to] our bad mental preparation.
“Congratulations to Ettore [Messina] and Milan, they were the better team. It was a difficult evening for us. We could not find the way to hit many shots. I think we created some good shots, but they didn’t go in. I think the guys tried to fight in some situations, and 18 offensive rebounds shows that, but I think in some situations also we lacked the necessary tension to win here in Milan”.
Nicolo Melli, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan forward
“We wished for a better season overall, but we wanted this win and we got it. For us, but mostly for the fans that supported us throughout the season, even in tough moments. We want to say thank you to them for all the support, and we will be back next season better and stronger. It’s a big win for us, of course, even though it didn’t give us any chance for the playoffs or any particular value, but we proved one more time that we could have been in a better position. For sure it’s on us [that we didn’t make the playoffs], but it’s a good win to end our season at home.”
Shabazz Napier, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan guard
“We wanted to give the fans a great game. We played great together; a lot of guys played a great game. I think today was a great team effort. We didn’t want to come out here and not compete – we are professional athletes – so I think we did a great job [of just] coming out and competing as a great team, getting a great win for our home. That’s a must for us: to compete.”