La Laguna Tenerife travels to Malaga for the reunion with Txus Vidorreta
After the victory in the Eurocup against the Türk Telekom (82-75), The Tenerife Lagoon travel to Malaga to measure up this Saturday against a Unicaja directed by former coach Aurinegro, Txus Vidorreta.
“Facing the former coach is more motivation to play well and go for victory,” declared the current leader of the Canary Islands bench, Jaka Lakovic, at a press conference.
“We have to return the bad luck we had against Zaragoza and turn around that defeat against Unicaja,” he said.
Regarding the Malaga team, Lakovic commented that they are a rival “that has started the season well despite the defeats”, since they have been “solid” against rivals such as real Madrid to whom they lost on the first day by 89 to 87.
“They have built a very complete, very long team,” he commented in reference to the incorporation of the former NBA player, Matt Thomasand the recovery of Tyler Kalinoski.
“They have the equipment to compete to the maximum and all positions are very well covered,” he added.
However, injuries are hindering the green team’s league start and the team will appear at the Martín Carpena with the loss of point guard Alberto Díaz and Kalinoski’s doubt.
“We all know that Alberto is a defensive specialist who sets the tone for the team, but I think they will continue to be aggressive with Melvin Panzar,” analyzed the Slovenian who, regardless of who plays, believes that Marcelinho Huertas “is well prepared” to handle the situation.
Lakovic also highlighted the presence of Willy Hernangomez inside and announced that it will be necessary to “prevent him from receiving in the paint” and improve the task of defensive rebounding.
“We have to solve this problem as a team, not just the big players, we all have to work to ensure defensive rebounding and running,” he indicated.
Lakovic confirmed that 14 players will travel to Malaga and that the team will continue its route to London, where on Tuesday they will face London Lions in a new day of Euro Cup.
The coach said that “we have to get used to this rhythm” of two games a week until the break of the FIBA window and also assume that all the rivals will be difficult.
“It is difficult to play a final every three days, it will be very hard mentally to get to December like this but those who achieve it are the champions,” he said.
“We have to create that mentality here, many of our leaders already have it and transmit it to the new players,” he insisted.
