Alex Mumbru apologizes after embarrassing loss: 'The team was broken' / News - Basketnews.com

Mumbru said the team looked broken at times and apologized to the local fans for the club's performance against ASVEL. The coach said he hasn't thought about his future at the club yet, but admitted he felt support from the organization throughout the entire season.

Credit: Valencia Basket/Miguel Angel Polo Credit Valencia Basket/Miguel Angel Polo

With a game with huge play-in implications at hand, Valencia Basket were embarrassed in front of their home crowd in La Fonteta. Trailing by as many as 39 points at one point, the Spanish club was blown out by LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne.

Valencia's fans, who remained in the venue despite a devastating loss, booed and whistled them off the court after the end of the match. Valencia's head coach, Alex Mumbru, admitted - it was the worst game of the season when it mattered the most.

"First of all, I apologize to the fans. We feel embarrassed by the game, it was the worst of the season," he said in the post-game press conference. "We had a lot of pressure, and they had 0 pressure, and it was especially noticeable at the beginning when we collapsed with the zone. We were out of rhythm, and in the end, we were anxious and gripped from the third quarter. We had a lot at stake, and we have not lived up to what La Fonteta expected, and we apologize for the match."

"Putting an end to the Euroleague is difficult. The options for getting into the play-in are complicated, and I don't know if we don't have it, but it's clear that it's complicated. We have to play a good game against Partizan to end up giving everything in the end," Mumbru said. "We have to focus on the ACB, on Baskonia, and on the next game, which will be very important, and try to recover the best version of this team that we have not shown today. We are the same team that started well, but our anxiety today and our body language have been quite bad."

From early on in the season, Mumbru's spot as a head coach in Valencia was seen as a hot seat. Following a stunning defeat at home, the former player was questioned about his future at the club.

Mumbru stated he hasn't looked into it in depth.

"After the game, I came straight here. I have to appreciate the support I've had in all areas up until today, it is what you need to coach at a high level. It's clear that I do feel strong. Today was our worst game, and it's tough," he said. "It's been a hard day for the team and for me. It was hard even before today, but I understand that people are dissatisfied and can provide their opinion or say what they believe. We cannot focus on that, and we have to try to abstract ourselves from that and think about what we can do and what we can control. Every day, you have to be at 100%, and today, we were not."

"The truth is that I haven't sat down to think about the future. I'm upset about today's game, and I'm sorry and I apologize. We haven't been up to the task of the game. There have been moments when the team was broken and had significant anxiety that caused them to tune out, and we did not look like ourselves," Mumbru declared. "I repeat the same thing to you - I can control what I can control. Come tomorrow, work hard, and try to make the team as good as possible for Sunday. Not much more."

Valencia have been at or around the play-in level throughout the entire EuroLeague regular season. With just one game on the line, they now need a myriad of favorable results to happen in order to qualify for the postseason.

"Ambition has led us to disappointment. You have to keep fighting and fighting, but after time out, during which I substituted everyone out, it was clear from the body language that people were more looking at the ground than looking up," Mumbru said. It was complicated and hard. About what's coming? We have the ACB left and one more EuroLeague game that we have to compete to the maximum."

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