Barça point guard Ricky Rubio admitted that “suffering is the usual trend this season” for the Barça team, which defeated Lenovo Tenerife in a close contest (96-86) in the first leg of the league quarter-finals at Endesa this Sunday. .
“Suffering was a common theme throughout the season, but in the end we played important games and finished in good shape. We were able to attack when we needed to. We didn’t just play for 40 minutes; We have to stay fit throughout the whole ‘spurt’,” the Catalan player said from the Palau Blaugrana dressing room.
Rubio acknowledged that success on the outside is important for Barça, which has a fast-paced style of play, and said Lenovo Tenerife have players like Kyle Guy and Marcelinho Huertas who can carry the ball, so they can play with anyone. It doesn’t matter whether we play against each other or not.” Team weight. ”
“There were moments in the match when Lenovo Tenerife had the upper hand, but it’s only been 40 minutes and we’re already 1-0 and looking ahead to the next game,” he added.
Meanwhile, Barça point guard Nico Laprovitola emphasized the mindset needed for the second leg of the series: “We are better than them. We need to go to Tenerife with the same winning mentality as today.” he said.
“We need to focus on improvements and keep an eye on Guy and Huertas. They are a strong team with skilled players, but we have to focus on our game and believe that we can win.” concluded.
This content is translated and edited from the Spanish version of the digital newspaper.
