Losing by 2 points (74-72) in Badalona wasn’t as bad as it could have been for Aris, David Blatt said after the end of the match against DKV Joventut.

“Very rarely we see team to win in 3 of the 4 quarters, to be superior in all statistics categories and yet lose the game. This is what happened to us tonight. Our performance in the 1st quarter was so poor and we could never make up the difference. It’s also very rare to see a team shoot as they did in the first half, when they had very high scoring percentage. When we got close, it was really important for us not taking the lead. If we managed to do that, we could have broken their spirit”, the American-Israeli coach said. He added that “for the third game in a row, we made a poor start. I take the responsibility for that and I have to find the explanation”.

Mr. Blatt also spoke about the fact that he opted for a no-foul defense in the last seconds, while Aris was down by 5: “Until minute 39 all we cared about was the victory. However, in the end we thought about the score, too. It could have been a lot worse and we wanted to keep a close score. We got exactly what we wanted out of it, so this is half-full glass for us”.

Aris’s head coach also praised Aaron Miles’s performance and attitude, by revealing a small talk they had just before the start of the game: “I decided to put Keekee Clark as a starter, instead of Aaron, because Keekee was doing great -and he was also great tonight. When I told Aaron, he said ‘whatever it takes, coach. I’m here and I’m ready’. When his moment came, he did his best. He has got personality and he has got skills, too. He is a quality kid and I wasn’t surprised of what I saw from him today, because I already knew what he is capable of”.