Longtime Buducnost leader Nikola Ivanovic talks about his team’s Game 1 road win in the 7DAYS EuroCup Quarterfinals and how he hopes to contribute more in Game 2.
Nikola Ivanovic, Buducnost: 'The spirit of the playoffs'
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6 mins read
Greetings, everybody, from Ljubljana, Slovenia, where my team Buducnost is getting ready for our Game 2 of the 7DAYS EuroCup Quarterfinals against Monaco! We flew here immediately after our Game 1 win -- and what a game and what a win that was! Honestly, I had to re-watch the last five minutes of that game to figure out how we managed to win it.
We realize that we pulled out a victory from almost an impossible situation, which means a lot for the next game. What we saw from Monaco is that it proved itself to be a team that plays hard. Because of the outcome in Game 1, they will surely play even more physical and be even tougher in the second game. So, even though we have a 1-0 series lead, I think we do understand that we are still miles away from getting what we want, which is going through to the semis.
"You could sense the playoff atmosphere on the court."
During all of Game 1, you could sense the playoff atmosphere on the court. You could sense players being a little bit more nervous, which also led to some poor decisions, and some reactions that happen out of tension. That's the spirit of the playoffs. And we knew how high the stakes are, which was an extra reason to refuse to give up even when it looked Monaco had a win secured. Knowing how much a win on the road would mean, we played until the end believing we can win.
This season we have been telling ourselves that no matter what is happening on the court, we have the quality to turn things around. It is what our coach stresses all the time. With aggressive defense and a quicker, freer approach on offense, we can compete with anyone and pull out of any situation. And I think it paid off.
Then, there were two great plays by Justin Cobbs at the end; first, his defense to force a turnover, then he made his trademark one-on-one pull-up jumper. Just excellent. He and Willie Reed played a fantastic game. We feel like we have many offensive weapons, but the two of them literally saved us in Game 1. They get the biggest credit for our win.
"The last possession, I hid behind the LED panels."
I fouled out of the game with 3 minutes to go. The way I committed those personal fouls, especially the last one on the offensive rebounds against Mathias Lessort, I think it tells you everything about how rational I was in Game 1. We joked about it after the match, and we joked that maybe we would not have won if I stayed in the game. So, it's a rarity that I fouled out in a game, but maybe it had a meaning. But those last 3 minutes were so hard. And the last possession, I hid behind the LED panels. It was tense. It is not only the fact that you are not on the court, but knowing you are not even allowed to get back out there and help. That feeling might be the worst.
I absolutely cannot be happy with my individual performance. I told Justin: Man, you bailed me out. If we had lost that match, I would have carried a lot of responsibility for the loss. Thankfully, it is different because we won, but I still cannot be happy about the way I played and I hope I will be better in Game 2 and help my team make history.
This is our fourth EuroCup Quarterfinals, I was there every other time Buducnost made quarterfinals, and we do have experience. Melvin Ejim and Amedeo Della Valle played in the semifinals before. So, we have a positive feeling, but we also have enough experience to know that we are still very far away from achieving anything in this series. I don't know if I can stress that enough. We have to stay calm and level-headed on Friday, no matter the outcome, but we sense how important it would be to win on Friday.
"We have to stay calm and level-headed."
I think we raised our confidence level in recent weeks, and I think it is a result of quality practices. We have long, intensive practices, and coach preaches to play free, to be free to shoot. I feel he is trying to put all our talents to the best possible use. What we also do in practices is compete against each other, and it carried over to the games. I think that having that competitive edge at practice gives us advantages in the games.
Our schedule since Game 1 was that on Wednesday we watched video, and did recovery, and on Thursday we will have our practice so that on Friday we can be at 100% once again. We are not at home, but in Ljubljana, so we don't have a home game. And I joked that we are playing on a court where we have traumas from playing and losing twice against Cedevita Olimpija in our domestic league earlier in the season.
It does not feel like a home game because it is a different arena, you are not used to the baskets. However, that is a situation we can't get out of and we are embracing the challenge. Unfortunately, we are not the first or the last team in this situation. Each team is facing struggles this season, so the most important thing is to adjust, individually and as a team. The faster you adjust and move on, the better your chances to be successful.
An additional challenge is Monaco head coach Zvezdan Mitrovic. Some of us spent two years off-and-on with him, we went through the national team training camp with him, and he definitely knows several of us. And you definitely felt that in the game. He did several things for me to feel uncomfortable, and in the end, he succeeded in it. But it is always nice to see him, I have the greatest respect for him. He helped me in my career, and I enjoy seeing him having so much success in France. But I just hope I am not going to be seeing him in Monaco next week again. After Game 1 he jokingly invited us to visit again next week, but we said we will pass up this invitation, and we'll visit Monaco during the tourist season.
Let's see how it ends up on Friday. Enjoy the games!