Vassilis Spanoulis : « You have to be ready to win, be good in execution, play our basketball. A game 5 You have to fight, always keep faith. Anything can happen in basketball. Playing at home, in front of our audience is an advantage, we fought for that all season. It’s up to us to make a good job, something beautiful can wait for us at the end. »
Mike James : « It’s good to play match 5 at home, in front of our fans. Anything is possible. Being at home? We feel more confident, more freed. You will have to be intense, especially in defense and rebound. This is the 4th year that we play a game 5 and the 3rd time in a row at home. We know. You just have to stay focused. We would have preferred to win in 3 or 4 rounds but we are there. We are lucky to do this job and play a big match. My performance in Barcelona? At Game 3 I was effective in attack but not in defense. I hope to succeed in a very good game 5 to lead mine, to be first concentrated in defense. »
Joan Peñarroya (Barcelona coach): “We approach this match in good shape, impatient to play one of the games we all dreamed of at the start of the season. It is a very difficult confrontation against a very good opponent, but the team is in good shape, convinced that the challenge is difficult, but also that we have all our chances if we play the right match. We know that Monaco was superior there (during matches 1 and 2). They put us out of play and punished us a lot with their defense and by easily marking thanks to interceptions and offensive rebounds. But during the third and fourth games, we progressed a lot in these situations. We clearly know what we are going to face. »»
The results of this series:
Manche 1: Monaco 97-80 Barça
Manche 2: Monaco 92-79 Barça
Manche 3: Barça 100-89 Monaco
Manche 4: Barça 79-72 Monaco
Manche 5: Monaco – Barça this Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Gaston Doctor
