Barcelona head coach Svetislav Pesic congratulated Anadolu Efes for the qualification to the Final Four, but mentioned his team had the chance to win the game.
Here is what the experienced coach told reporters in the post-game press conference of Game 5 against Anadolu Efes:
“First of all, I would like to congratulate Anadolu Efes. They deserved it. But we could have won the game. The game was played in a very lively atmosphere, as we expected. The players of Anadolu Efes received the full support of the fans. That gave Efes an advantage.
I think my team showed character even though we didn’t play the best game of the season. We had a chance to get ahead in the third quarter, but we couldn’t get the defensive rebounds and Efes came back. We had a good defense in the last quarter, we got a chance.
At that point, we got a chance to catch Efes with the rebounds we got but we couldn’t take the chance. Efes stood up with the move that they made on offense. If you don’t make the right decisions on offense and not defend one on ones hard on defense then this happens. But still, we showed very good character.”
Barcelona lost the series 3-2 and failed to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2014.
