Unicaja is playing its last chances of being in the Cup this Wednesday in Bilbao. The green team has it very complicated, but any possibility is to win in Miribilla. Fotis Katsikaris knows this and is clear about the path to achieving a victory: “With the constructive pressure that a team in the situation we are in must have, we have to come out strong. There are three C’s as a motto for tomorrow’s game: commitment, character and head. This is to start with, as a base, and then we get into the tactics and game situations. But if we do not comply with one of these three, we are going to have problems tomorrow ”.
Bilbao Basket, which curiously achieved its greatest achievements with Katsikaris on its bench, is a team that tends to be strong at home. “It is a complicated track, the ‘Miribilla’ effect helps his team and squeezes the rival a lot. In addition, it is a team that has improved a lot with the changes it has made in the squad during the season, with experienced players. They defend better and are in their best form of the season. We cannot have ups and downs in the matches, or at least not in the minutes that hurt us, that it does not last for a long time ”, acknowledged the Greek.
Katsikaris hopes that this game, in addition to keeping the pulse in the fight for the Cup, will serve to banish the bad taste in the mouth that the European game against Greek Lavrio left. “I expect a great reaction from my players, we must respond to the Greece game against Lavrio. It was a game with a bad mentality for 40 minutes and we cannot allow ourselves to happen again. It is time to react tomorrow, we have worked very well and very hard these last three days. The players have also understood it, that we cannot despise the game itself, not only the rival. We are working every day to improve ”, he assured.
Unicaja, for the moment, is one of the teams that is currently free of COVID, although Katsikaris is aware that they should not lower their guard and remain very attentive and extreme security measures: “Luckily we have no COVID-19 problems and we have been able to work well preparing for tomorrow’s game; still, anything can happen at any time. It is an uncertain and complicated situation that will greatly affect the last three days of the first round. We know that each game is important and to see in what conditions each team can arrive ”.