'We don't fear anybody': Nikola Kalinic talks about the post-season / News - Basketnews.com

FC Barcelona's star forward, Nikola Kalinic, talked about his and his team's mentality going forward with the post-season.

Credit: Fabrizio Andrea Bertani/Pacific Press via ZUMA Press Wire - Scanpix Credit Fabrizio Andrea Bertani/Pacific Press via ZUMA Press Wire - Scanpix

Nikola Kalinic and his team, FC Barcelona, will cap off the season by visiting LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in a prestige game that will not affect the standings, where Barcelona already clinched the 2nd place.

2-pointers this season

56%22,4Points made:22,4Accuracy:56,1%Place in standings:2Record max:32Record min:12Most made 2FGs:Jan VeselyTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

In remarks to Marc Mundet, the Serbian forward reflected on the playoffs, where they will either meet Olympiacos Piraeus or Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and talked about the team's mentality at the end of the regular season.

"Two amazing teams," Kalinic said about Fenerbahce and Olympiacos. "Also, they are in a good moment. In the season, they changed some things, and now, they are playing much better."

We are going to have an incredibly tough job. Everything goes one step higher, one level up, the intensity, the physicality, the focus... We are hoping that we can withstand all that and go to the Final Four," explained Kalinic, iterating the need to remain mentally ready.

In particular, surviving the Piraeus or Istanbul atmosphere will be challenging, according to Kalinic, who used to play for Fenerbahce.

"We are going to have one or two games in Istanbul or Athens. It's going to be incredibly hard to win over there, so we have to be ready for everything."

Despite the long and arduous road to glory, Kalinic believes that, as long as they maintain a certain level of commitment to the cause, they have no reason to fear any team.

"I think we won against every team this season, so we don't have any fear for anybody but [maybe] a normal dose of fear," he said. "If we manage to stay focused, we can play really good basketball."

[All the same], if we are not totally focused, we are not here with energy [and] with intensity; we can lose to everybody. We showed this many times this season. I think we are in a good moment, but we will see," he concluded with a healthy dose of skepticism.

This season, Kalinic is averaging 8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game with the Spanish team.

Support BasketNews so we could make even better content.