After his team returned from a two week absence to win its second road game, JL Bourg-en-Bresse scorer Danilo Andjusic brings back his blog to emphasize that his team has a long road still to reach its dream of a place in the 7DAYS EuroCup Top 16.
Danilo Andjusic, Bourg: 'Happy where we stand'
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6 mins read
Well, here I am again. It has been two difficult weeks for us, but Bourg returned to the competition and beat Partizan in Belgrade. We knew that is was going to be a hard game, different than all the others, because we had only one or two practices together before we came to Belgrade. That's after more than two weeks without practicing, but the most important thing for us is that everybody was healthy and we came to Belgrade with a full team. The only one missing was our coach, who had a negative test, but the doctors gave him the advice to stay home a little bit more. All the players came to the game and this was the most important thing for everybody. We knew that once we go out on the court, there are no excuses for not practicing or anything like that. We had to go out there, give 100%, play with as much energy as we could, and try to take the win. We did it, and it is a really important win for us to keep fighting for a spot in the next round. We went out there, did a great job and in fact, played one of our best games. All the guys played incredible after two weeks without practicing. We are very happy with where we stand at this moment.
I am from Belgrade so it is always good to be back. We arrived Monday night so I had the chance to see some of my friends and, on Tuesday my family, socially distanced, of course. It was nice to come back after a while to my city to see everybody. We had the game on Wednesday, so I tried to focus on the game and prepare for it. That was the most important, but like I said, it's always speacial feeling when you are going back to your hometown. Everybody likes that.
"All the guys played an incredible game."
Pierre Pelos became the MVP of the Week, and I am sure a lot of you EuroCup fans don't know him, so here I am to tell you a little bit more about him. First of all, he is a great guy off the court; everybody in the team likes him. Maybe he is not a well-known player in Europe, but I am sure everybody knows him and his basketball skills here in France. In the last two years, he was Zach Peacock's backup but every time he stepped on the court, Pierre was doing great things because he is a good player. He can do everything! He can play like a '5' but also like a '4'. He can shoot but also has low post moves. He gives us great things coming off the bench, so we are not surprised that he is playing so well at the beginning of the season. I am happy that he's getting these kinds of results. It is good for him, for the team, for everybody!
I had a good game too, but the most important is that we won. The good thing is that four of us kept practicing during these two weeks. It was a little bit weird because it was only four us but we had to stay in shape. And of course, I was trying to stay in the same rhythm where I was before we stopped playing. And I'm glad that we continued to play good as a team, like we did before. By the way, I had 23 points, so I guess those FabFive Challenge managers who bought me must be satisfied. I would like to say thanks to them for picking me. I will try not to disappoint you! I will continue working hard and doing what I do best.
These two weeks were tough because you feel like it is preseason again. COVID-19 already forced all of us to stop in March and to spend many months without games and team practices. And now, we came to the situation where it's almost like we are in preseason and you only have four players available. It has been mentally tough for us but we knew that we had to stay ready because when all the other guys came back, we had to hold the team and push Bourg to play well, because we had time to practice. It was not easy but I think we did a great job.
"We have to give people some kind of joy."
Speaking of COVID-19, it is an extra responsibility to entertain people who have to be at home and give our best for them to enjoy good basketball on TV, to give them a good show in these tough times. I know always it is tough for everybody to be in quarantine again. Lots of people are waiting the moment to go and see games live. I know all the people are missing that. But in this situation we have to adjust and find the way to beat this virus as soon as possible, so that after we can enjoy ourselves even more. We have to give people some kind of joy, some kind of entertainment, and we can do that. The next EuroCup game is always the most important one, but in this case our next game against Bahcesehir is very, very important for many reasons. They are 0-5 but have been playing well. They were close to winning a couple of games, against UNICS and Partizan. We have to respect them as a team because they have pretty good individuals and are playing well as a team in the last couple of weeks. Like in all other games, we cannot relax after this win. At this point of the season, we have to be even more focused to play our best basketball. If we do that, we can keep dreaming and raise our chances to go to the Top 16. If we beat Bahcesehir, we have more opportunities to go to the Top 16, which is our main goal.
We already beat Bahcesehir but every game is different. We have to play the way we did against Partizan. We have to control the game's rhythm, the pace of the game and for sure, one of the keys is stopping their best players: Erick Green, Alex Perez and Jamal Jones. They are leading that team so we cannot allow them to score easy points. They will take their shots, but we have to make them work for those shots, play with great energy so we can win. If we don't play with maximum energy, it is going to be tough.
Stay healthy, everyone! Allez Bourg!