The good news of the day at Barça was confirmed by Jasikevicius in the preview of the match against Alba Berlin: Mirotic enters the squad. He will travel to Berlin and Santiago (next match in the Endesa League against Obradoiro) but he did not reveal if he will play. He is ready, training with the group and already recovered, but the Lithuanian coach wants to go “little by little”.
mirotic: “Niko is going to travel to Berlin and Santiago and we will decide. He is training, fit to play. It will be a last minute decision. We have to be patient with him. He starts his own preseason. He is a player that we miss, that we need, but we must not go crazy. Training is one thing and playing Euroleague games is another. We are going to be very patient with him, we are going to go little by little”.
Sunrise: “The best thing the boys can do is believe the staff. The 3-7 of them is very deceptive. They have been with the same system for 5 years, two with the same coach. They have only changed one player. His numbers are very good and the numbers don’t lie. The classification is misleading, they are playing very good basketball. When they recover the injured they will be at the level of the first games”.
Change of dynamics with the return of Mirotic: “The players have to understand it. Change the dynamics and roles. Now again we start to see how the quintets work, some interior pairings… A new dynamic, it’s a problem, but it’s a good problem to have. Other people can look at Niko too much, it would be a big mistake, you have to be very patient, play as we have done and Niko will gradually become more dynamic”.
Da Silva: “Okay, in your line. We have waited a long period of adaptation but he has already given us many things. He has helped win games. Every day I see him more comfortable and more toned”.
Match Key: “The key is always the transitions. They shoot a lot of 3-pointers and there are three or four players on the rebound. The theme is possessions. They play them very short and we have to not fall into this rhythm, we have to choose advantages and be patient”.