Por Redaccion First of all, Ibon Navarro has highlighted in the press room at the Martín Carpena that the team’s week «has gone well. We started a little later, on Wednesday on the court, since on Tuesday we did a training session in the gym and then went to do an activity. The team is doing well, they trained very well yesterday, with a lot of energy. I see that they still have fun training, and that is very positive. So we are eager to continue with the line we have been following in the last few games, to improve four or five things that we want to make sure we do at a high level in the Playoff, because we know that will make us competitive and let’s see if we can close out the regular season with a victory here at home, against a good rival that we encountered in the Copa, who has had a very good Liga Endesa and has won four of the last five games. This team is in good form.»
Asked if the preparation for the game against Joventut is conditioned by the proximity of the Playoff series next week against Barça, the coach has indicated that «we have to prepare the game as if it were any other game. First, because if we win, we would end up with the same record as we did in the first year. You never know if it’s good or bad to end the regular season with a win because sometimes you lose and that puts you on alert for the first game against Barcelona, but I think in this case, the opponent will already put us on enough alert. But this game is prepared like any other game, focusing on the strengths of the opponent, trying to understand that we have many open fronts defensively with Tomic and Pustovyi, who are two players who usually cause us problems with their movements in the paint, with those actions where they seal and gain a lot of position against our fast centers, but who don’t have their physicality.»
«They have a player like Dotson who will prepare us for the aggressive play that Punter and Dario Brizuela can have next week, but focusing on Joventut’s strengths. We haven’t talked about Barcelona yet, nothing. Obviously, the coaching staff is preparing the Barça game, I have watched their games, but we are focused on Joventut, which is what we have on Friday. The fans will want us to beat Joventut and play well. Therefore, we just have to do our job as best as possible,» he concluded.
Regarding how he faces the match against a Joventut team fighting for sixth place, while Unicaja will not move in the standings, Ibon Navarro emphasized that «by that same token, we wouldn’t have played the game we played in Lleida, where we also had nothing at stake. The goals of the games are to improve on very specific and quantifiable things for us. We know that by doing that well, the rest will follow. We don’t focus on the result, on winning or losing, but on doing three or four things really well and being focused on doing them. Otherwise, there is always that necessary competitive tension that you need, but for us, we already know that puts us in the necessary state of competitiveness.»
Finally, the coach had words for the fans ahead of Friday’s match: «We play at home with our people. I have been told that we can break the attendance record at Carpena in a season. Hopefully, we will reach that and that the people who come and break that record can have fun with us and leave with good energy for the Playoff. But we are not looking for a result. We aim to do things well on the field, and the result often follows. Therefore, we do not need that result-oriented tension to play.»