After your great victory in Limoges in the first match of these quarter-finals, has the hardest part been done for your team?
No, it’s a good step, that’s obvious. Now, we know that, in the playoffs, each game has its own story. So what was valid on Tuesday and which was very well done on Tuesday, everything is called into question three days later, with certainly other players who will perform, other players who will perhaps be below. There are so many parameters in a playoff game. That gives us a zero. It takes a second round to win and go to the semi-finals. But in any case, we forget Tuesday’s game and we recalibrate on Friday’s game.
You still have the advantage of playing at home this time, you are in front of your home crowd, you can qualify for the semi-finals tonight. What’s the catch then?
The trap would be to say that it is already done. This is not at all the mentality of the team and the staff. We know that we played a very good game in Limoges. We also know that when we followed the first quarter-finals, all the teams lost at home. So that means it’s really a series that’s been pretty crazy so far. So it’s difficult to win at home. What we want tonight is to validate our ticket because we know that going back to Limoges on Sunday in a room that has been boiling hot and it’s never easy. So there, we are in front of our audience, in our room. It’s up to us to do everything we need, especially his defensive side which is really important in the playoffs, to be able to set up our defense, which was the case on Tuesday. If we already have that, it will allow us to exist in this match and to be able to win.
You returned from Limoges on Tuesday night. Have all the players recovered well before this second game tonight? Are there any absentees, injured?
For the moment no. I hope there won’t be any by tonight. Of course, recovery is very important. We put things in place on Wednesday morning with the medical staff, also with cryotherapy work for maximum recovery. So I think that there, it is rather the mental aspect. We will have chained almost 50 matches this year, it’s not one more match or one less match. At this time of the season, it really comes down to the ability to be focused on what we want defensively, on what we want in the content of the game. And then, with the room which must bring us what evening, who will really play his role as the sixth man. It gives wings. So the recovery side, we put it in place but the mental side is much more important.
Are you expecting a big atmosphere tonight at the Palais des sports in Dijon?
Yes, as the room knew how to be boiling when we received Villeurbanne, Limoges, some time ago or even Monaco. We know that the room will be sold out, that there are almost no more places available. So it’s an important match, a cutthroat match, people like that. We know that at the end of this match, either we go back to Limoges, or we are qualified. So I’m not hiding from you that I prefer the second solution.
You were talking about the matches against Villeurbanne, against Monaco. We have the impression that in these great moments, against big teams, the JDA knows how to make the difference. Could it still be the case tonight?
What you say is true, but it was true, especially at home. That is to say that before the Limoges match, we had never been able to beat a top 8 team at home. So we did it at the best of times since we were able to beat Limoges in Limoges in the playoffs. And conversely, often the top 8 teams, with us, we managed to win. Now, each match has its truth and it still seems that it’s more interesting to receive and especially in our room. And it’s true that faced with the big players in the championship, we have often responded. I hope that will be the case again tonight.