Adam Hanga, 34, one of Real Madrid’s veterans, has experience in difficult environments with the white team, but also with Barça and Baskonia, and before in Hungary: “In my country I have played many games with an atmosphere similar to that of Serbia. I like it when there are a lot of people”. This Monday, before flying to Belgrade, he spoke to the media and told that spoke with the Partizan players and that “Both teams should focus on basketball”. The Hungarian forward is confident that safety is guaranteed.
The most important game of the season. “We want to show that we are capable of turning the tie around, it is a game to the death because we are 0-2 and if we lose it is the end of the Euroleague for us. You have to go with a cool head and focus on basketball, I think that during the season we have shown that we can play well. You have to defend and play with discipline and toughness. Our objective is to force the fifth game”.
Experience in difficult environments. “I really like these environments after coming from playing in almost empty arenas due to COVID, something that was very rare. Personally, I like when there are a lot of people, when we talk about basketball, we are the protagonists. Environments with a lot of people are good for basketball. We recently played there and it was incredible, I hope it happens again, but that we win”.
Is there restlessness before flying to Belgrade? “We know that what happened (on Thursday) cannot happen again, we spoke with some Partizan players and we all know that you have to concentrate on basketball. I have played many games in Hungary with an atmosphere similar to that of Serbia and with fans like yours. We hope that the Euroleague can guarantee our safety, but they also know that what has happened is in the past. What he has to master is basketball, which we all enjoy”.
The keys for the third quarter. “So far our defense has failed a bit, they have fives that open the field and they have done us a lot of damage, we must prepare. In the second game we tried to confuse them with a zone defense. In the end, the split balls, the rebounds are very important… But for me what will decide the game is our defense. The other day we also received too many points. The rival is a very well trained team, with some very good offensive mechanisms; but if we defend well, we won’t have any problems in attack, as we never have had”.
Has the tie changed with the sanctions? “You don’t know, we’ll see. This can change during a game, last year it happened in the Final Four with the injury to Williams-Goss, which altered everything. Things always happen in basketball and the two teams will have to play differently because important players are missing, but a team is not made up of just one or two players. Both they and we have several players who can take a step forward”.