Badalona's coach Carles Duran blasts Jasikevicius: 'He's rude and doesn't value us' / News - Basketnews.com

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FC Barcelona made it to the ACB League finals on Friday night after defeating Joventut Badalona 63-60 in an intense fourth game of their semifinal series.

Player of the Game EFF 18 Nikola Mirotic Points 20 Accuracy 7-13 Rebounds 7 Assists 0

Sarunas Jasikevicius' men were down twelve points, but recovered to get through to the final. The Lithuanian coach highlighted in the press room the character of his team to turn around a difficult situation.

However, Jasikevicius focusing exclusively on what Barcelona did was a choice that triggered an angry response from Badalona's head coach, Carles Duran, who accused his colleague of being rude.

Duran thinks Saras lacked respect for the hosts because a few minutes earlier, he hadn't made any reference to the opponent team when analyzing the game. The 46-year-old coach congratulated his players on a "great game" and on qualifying for the finals.

"I don't think he values, nor does he respect us. He's just talking about his team at a press conference. He's rude, that's for sure," Duran said in the presser.

"I think they [Barcelona] are amazing and have shown they are better than us. The best teams are Barca and Madrid. I wish Barca all the best. We prefer to be eliminated by the champions. But [Jasikevicius] has disrespected us," the Catalan play-caller repeated.

But Duran had something to say about his team also. Despite the early elimination in the EuroCup, Joventut managed to win games and gradually bring their fans back to the Palau Olimpic of Badalona, where the 2023 Copa del Rey will be hosted.

"For Badalona, [it's great] to finish the season only behind Real Madrid and Barca, when four years ago we were going to disappear. We have brought 10,000 fans here and it is all thanks to the guys at home. In a few years we will look back on this season as a wonderful year," explained Duran.

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