How do you feel after eliminating one of the best European teams, FC Barcelona?
It felt great but we were very confident with this matchup because we beat them once and should have beat them in Barcelona the first time. We went into the series expecting to win, especially with homecourt advantage.
Do you feel like this win can go to Top 5 of your biggest successes. What other achievements would you add to a list like that
Yes besides all of the championships I’ve won, beating a big club in a tough series to go to a Euroleague final 4 is a big achievement for sure.
What do you think was the biggest surprise to your opponent regarding this matchup?
I don’t think we did much to surprise them. I think they respected us as tough competition. Maybe they thought we lacked experience and when they killed us in games 2 and 3 that we would give up and not compete.
Do you feel that your team is still in the ‘underdog’ of the Final 4 or do you think teams finally know fully what Lokomotiv is capable of doing?
I think all of the teams know what we are capable of but we aren’t a “big named” club, and in Europe any club without the experience is regarded as the underdog.
Do you think that the pressure now will be bigger than before or do you that now all of the pressure is off and you will play relaxed seeing how much you’ve already achieved?
We don’t have any pressure. We just want to go out, enjoy the final 4 and compete to the best of our abilities. We really believe we can win but at the same time we don’t have the pressure like some of these big clubs that are expected to win. We will enjoy the experience.
Do you feel that from the other remaining 3 teams CSKA is the best matchup for you and Lokomotiv?
I think this is a great matchup for us. We beat them the last 3 out of 4 times we’ve played them and shared the two games this season. They are a strong team that has experience in the final 4 but we haven’t came across a team we didn’t think is unbeatable. It will be a fun matchup, and a good game for Russian basketball because either way a Russian team will be in the final.
