The Asvel is trampling at the moment. Tony Parker’s club had a difficult time in the Euroleague. Four defeats in a row before a victory against the Turks of Fenerbahçe on Thursday evening. In the French league it is also complicated at the moment for Asvel, four defeats in its last 6 games.
Blame it on an insane schedule with the European league and a busy infirmary: Morgan, Lighty and the French nugget Wembanyama are injured. For the leader of Limoges CSP, CJ Massimburg, this meeting comes at the right time: “They have a lot of injuries at the moment. I feel that they are still going to be very hard to play but we, the CSP, we are going to go there with all our energy to win the match.”
“Asvel will play hard against us because they respect us!”
Injured so, but there are still very good players, like Okobo, intractable since his return from the United States, or Chris Jones, sparkling Thursday in the Euroleague with ASVEL, author of his point record in the competition with 27 units.
Massimo Cancellieri, the Limougeaud coach does not see a weakened team: “With the players they have, I can not imagine that you could say: ‘this Asvel there does not have a good team’. They are an excellent team! They are powerful, their backs, their insides … They are incredible! You have to defend hard, from post 1 to 5, the threat can come from anywhere! “
The Limougeaud coach does not see Asvel let go of this meeting: “It can happen when you play the Euroleague, to be less efficient in the league. In Pau, they missed everything. But that, it happens only once, not twice. Me, I never believed that the Euroleague teams are tired, diminished in December. It is rather in April before the play offs, there, they have to run but not now! “
With his latest successes, the Limousin coach now knows he is expected everywhere: “At the start of the championship, nobody thought we were going to be a good team. But little by little, through hard work, we have earned the respect of these teams. It is respect, for our ego. On the other hand for our team, it is not good at all. Now, Asvel, they’re going to want to play hard against us because they respect us. “ The Italian coach who continues with a smile: “I wish they didn’t respect us but they’re not going to do that”
“We’re going to win for Nico!”
The Limoges CSP will have to play this meeting, like several others, without its captain Nicolas Lang, injured in the ankle. It is an additional motivation for the team. “We’re going to go there to win for Nico”, supports CJ Massimburg. “He represents what we are: the CSP. When one player falls the others have to level up. So we’ll be ready!”
Limoges CSP has already evolved without its Alsatian leader. It was two weeks ago in Orleans. It was also the last defeat of the players of Massimo Cancellieri: “Honestly we tried to win this match but what we did was not what we had prepared. There, we worked hard for three days and I hope that we will put in place what we planned. “
There remains the shadow of the Covid which hovers around the Limoges CSP and all the sporting events. “It’s super stressful”, notes Massimo Cancellieri. “We cannot be teleworking in our profession. We must therefore limit our social interactions as much as possible.” There are currently no positive cases on the workforce side after the first two series of tests carried out since the controversial match against Fos-sur-Mer on Thursday evening. There is, however, a positive case for one of the staff “who works away from the players”.
The group must be fully tested again before taking the bus this Monday morning … direction Villeurbanne if all goes well!