All-EuroCup First Team center Mathias Lessort of AS Monaco spoke to Eurocupbasketball.com about his team's victory in the opener of the best-of-three 7DAYS EuroCup Finals.
Mathias Lessort, Monaco: 'We just gotta fight'
Interviews
5 mins read
All-EuroCup First Team center Mathias Lessort was again at the forefront as AS Monaco edged UNICS Kazan 89-87 to take the opener of the teams' best-of-three 7DAYS EuroCup Finals. He led all players with a performance index rating of 28 after posting 17 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. The big man gave it all while playing a career-high 32:08 minutes. Before heading to Russia for Game 2 on Friday night, Lessort spoke to Eurocupbasketball.com about the first game and looked ahead to the next one. "It will be really exciting to play in front of fans. It might be a little strange at the beginning, but we've gotta get that out of our minds and remember what we are playing for," Lessort said. "For them it might make a difference when they make a run or something... But we have to get that out of our minds and just enjoy the game."
What was the key to your team's Game 1 victory?
"We just dug it out. We fought, we hustled. It was a dog fight out there for both teams and we knew that was what it was going to be, so we just gotta fight."
Monaco was down 9 in the third quarter. What was the key to the comeback?
"We are a team with character. We’ve been there before. We knew what our mistakes were and that we could get better. So we just stepped it up and fought like dogs. I'm proud of my teammates."
"We are a team with character. We’ve been there before."
How important was UNICS's foul trouble to the outcome?
"For sure that was a good thing to get them out of the rhythm of the game. It was a team effort. We were, of course, trying to take them out of the game. We know that Jamar Smith is the MVP of the competition and we know what he can do. John Brown is probably the best defensive player on their team, so we just tried to attack them and we knew that the team is different when these guys don't find their rhythm.
Did you expect Artem Klimenko to play so much and be so effective?
"Yeah. We struggled with the pick-and-roll defense against him. They were finding him pretty easily and he was making the right decisions all the time. We can fix that for the next game."
You only allowed UNICS 1 offensive rebound in the first half. How important was your boxing out?
"It was very important, for sure. We played very hard on defense, we tried to make them take tough shots and if we don't secure the rebound, we did that for no reason. So for sure, the key to defense is getting the rebound at the end."
"It will be really exciting to play in front of fans."
Are you looking forward to playing Game 2 in front of fans in Kazan?
"Oh yeah, for sure. It will be really exciting to play in front of fans. It might be a little strange at the beginning, but we've gotta get that out of our minds and remember what we are playing for. It's five against five on the court. For them it might make a difference when they make a run or something, [the fans] might push them or give them a little more energy. But we have to take exception to that. I mean, we've played with fans before, so it's not like… Of course, we're not used to it anymore and it's gonna be different. But we have to get that out of our minds and just enjoy the game."
How does it feel to be one win away from the EuroCup title?
"Of course, it is really exciting. But we are two games away from losing it. We've only done half the job and getting that one win is a lot."
You were named to the All-EuroCup First Team. What does that mean to you?
"I had been already in the second team and now I made it to the first team, so it shows progress. It is just a team thing; I think that if the team had not made it that far, I wouldn't be in the first team, so it is an individual award, but it is also a team award. They had to put somebody from Monaco and they put me. Thanks to my coach and my teammates for putting me in a good situation this year and allowing me to be on the first team."