ALONSO, SITO
FC Barcelona Lassa
"It was a very good game for us and our fans must be very happy with this win. They understood the things we needed, and I am very happy, especially because of the intensity we put on the court. Phil Pressey raised our intensity level coming out of the locker room. We need this kind of energy. They were our best minutes until now; the first 5 or 6 minutes of the third quarter. Still, we have to improve different, important things. The most important thing is the ambition we have shown to everyone, especially in the final minutes. It is only one win, but we have to improve some important things, especially on defense. For many minutes, the team has done what we are looking for and people are happy. Everyone is happy when you win, but they will be happier if we show intensity and attitude like we did for a lot of minutes. There was a situation in the second quarter, with Ian Vougioukas on the floor, in which we allowed them too many easy situations to score, and that five-point halftime difference could have been dangerous. We showed great defensive energy in the second half and took the game. Panathinaikos lowered its intensity in the final five minutes, which is not the usual thing to see in a team coached by Xavi Pascual. We have to be realistic and I understand we have to be happy because we won and played with high intensity, but there are a lot of things to improve and players who have to join the team. We knew we would offer that intensity and when you do that, things go well. Without that intensity, we will not be able to compete on the road. The key, for me, is to enjoy playing defense. Offense depends on a lot of factors, mainly on your opponent's defense. People must identify with what depends on you, which is defense. Either you play defense or you don't. If the ball is on the floor, you dive or not. Everything that depends on us. We must do it 100% of the time."