Pedro Martínez: “The losses in the end killed us”

Pedro Martínezcoach of real Madridpointed out this Tuesday that the ball losses, especially in the first half and in the final minutes, “killed” the team’s hopes of a comeback, which despite having options, ended up losing 94-84 against Anadolu Efes in Istanbul.

He real Madrid They were only four points away in the final minutes, but the 21 turnovers, 14 of them in the first half, were a burden that weighed too much.

“We made a great effort in the second half. The problem is that in the first half we had a lot of losses. Then we were better, although the losses in the end killed us. We had a good mentality to come back, but we need to improve, especially when it came to sharing the ball,” Martínez told the Euroleague microphones after the game.

Already in the press conference, he reiterated the hole of losses, although he valued the improvement in mentality of his players in the second half.

“We played 13 or 14 minutes in the right direction in the first half, but then we committed losses that allowed easy points for Efes and that caused a big advantage in the last five minutes of the second quarter, making it difficult for us to compete. In the second half we had a better mentality, we defended better and limited losses. We had options two minutes from the end after a great comeback, but again, the losses and their good attacks decided the game for Efes,” he analyzed.

Asked if part of the losses were due to Efes’ defense in “Iverson court” situations, an offensive system, he focused on the situations that his own players can improve.

“We need to analyze how we committed the losses. Maybe some were in specific situations in this situation, but in general I think it was not our problem. We lost balls in simple situations, with an advantage…I think we have to think about what we can improve in the situations that we trained, but it is not this situation in particular,” he concluded.