ABA TV: Mršić – “Individual quality of Zvezda’s players was decisive”
After the end of the ABA League season for Cedevita, their head coach Veljko Mršić spoke for the ABA League TV about his impressions. Take a look what he said in the post-game video interview.
After the end of the ABA League season for Cedevita, their head coach Veljko Mršić spoke for the ABA League TV about his impressions. Take a look what he said in the post-game video interview.
You ended your ABA League season in the Semi-finals with a home defeat against Crvena zvezda Telekom. How did you see this game?
"It was for sure a tough defeat, the one that we ended our season with. My players were doing their best in order to obtain a victory and played well in the first half. However, when it comes to shooting we were not at the desired level. Our bad three-point shooting was the key to their victory. Crvena zvezda Telekom players demonstrated physical domination throughout the game. They have longer bench, more experienced and stronger players. We just could not match them. In the end we managed to get ourselves a chance to win, but the individual quality of their players was decisive.”
Do you believe that the outcome of the first game was also decisive for the outcome of the series?
"I cannot tell. We played a good game in Belgrade. Even a better one than at home. Due to special circumstances we lost it, but we have shown a better game in Pionir Hall, as well as Zvezda did. Here, it was not easy, both of us had tough games in the Euroleague few days ago. However, again it was interesting until the final moments, when the winner was revealed. For sure it has been a good promotion of basketball and the ABA League.”
Can you sum up the season of Cedevita already as the ABA League has ended for your team or do you wish to wait for the end of national championship to offer an analysis? Was the season successful in your eyes or not?
"We have lost last season in the finals against Crvena zvezda Telekom with 3:1 in the series as well. Of course, this season it happened in the Semi-finals. We played well throughout the season, but lost our rhythm midway through February. Now we started playing good basketball again. However, it"s worth mentioning that we have reached the Euroleague Top 16 for the first time in the club"s history. Unfortunately, everything together was not enough to qualify for the Euroleague again. If there was still room for two ABA League teams, I believe that us and Crvena zvezda Telekom would compete there again. To give a complete analysis we have to wait until the very end of the season, but for now we have won the Croatian National Cup and qualified for the Euroleague Top 16, which satisfies us. In the ABA League we haven"t accomplished our goal, but we have to congratulate our opponent, which was better this time.”
