Vincent Collet after the great success of his Metropolitans against Monaco: “The adversaries did not hang on”
Vincent Collet, coach of Boulogne-Levallois, winner of Monaco at home on Tuesday night (108-81) : “The pale copy of Saturday (83-65 defeat against Le Mans) was primarily due to our lack of intensity. Tonight on a seen almost the opposite. We played a great game, not our opponent, who made it easier for us. They didn’t hang on. We surprised them, I think, at the start of the match, we adapted very well to their defense. I thought they were going to come back, it was the case at the start of the second half, but they gave up.
We did not live a happy medium at the start of the season. Our merit is in what we have proposed. We insisted a lot on the fact that we had sorely lacked intensity on Saturday. It is not only our level that explains what happened tonight but on one of the players who achieved high performance.
Our team is new, our player leaders are new to the Championship and to France and I think they took a bad approach after the Sablé tournament. I told the players, Saturday’s game against Nanterre will be another kettle of fish. I was asked before the game if I thought it was the strongest Championship ever. It is far too early to tell. We will talk about it in ten days. Tonight is not the match we expected. “
Vincent Hunter, interior of Boulogne-Levallois : “We have settled several details in relation to Le Mans. It’s a new team, it’s my first year in France, we are discovering the physical side of the matches. We have to respect all the teams. Like I told the guys on Saturday, it’s a long season. It’s going to be different every night. “
Mirko Ocokoljic, Monaco assistant, substitute for Zvezdan Mitrovic excluded before the break : “This defeat is difficult to explain, we will have to review the match to analyze. We started badly, we tried to react. We had worked to prepare for this match against a team from Levallois which we knew would react. At halftime, we told ourselves we had to come back stronger, put more into everything we did. On one fact a lot of mistakes. I couldn’t comment on Zvezdan’s exclusion. It reached the team, it’s not the same when he’s at the edge of the pitch with the coaches. It’s hard to make the transition to the Euroleague. We played the Pana and then we had to motivate the players. “
Léo Westermann, Monaco leader : “The Panathinaikos (Monaco’s first opponent of the season, in the Euroleague) were not up to par and we were blinded by our match, I have the impression. Levallois ate us on a lot of things “not basket”, it is more problematic. It’s complicated to explain the lack of envy on our part. It’s a new team, but we can’t show this image of Monaco. It will take a reaction. We have to play both Championships, we have no excuse for fatigue. You have to look at yourself in a mirror. If we do not play 100%, we will not succeed in Euroleague and Betclic. Everyone should be aware of this. Maybe the big CVs of the team thought it was going to be easier. “