Vidorreta, along with the coaching staff and players, protests a call.
Regaining confidence amid a bitter defeat was the takeaway for Txus Vidorreta after La Laguna Tenerife’s loss to Unicaja in the battle for third place at the Basketball Champions League Final Four. Speaking in the mixed zone, the head coach acknowledged that his team let the game slip due to several costly mistakes in the second half, but he highlighted the improved performance just 48 hours after the tough semifinal loss to Rytas.
“The best part was that we regained our feeling, and I think today—meaning yesterday—we were much closer to the basketball we usually play,” summarized the Bilbao-born coach.
Despite the emotional toll of a Final Four where the true goal was competing for the title, Vidorreta emphasized that his squad fought until the very end in an uncomfortable game for any team. He admitted that the bronze-medal match was “the one nobody wants to play,” but defended the commitment shown by both sides once the ball was in play. “Of course, you don’t want to play it before it starts. But once it begins, as you saw, it turned into a good game,” said the coach.
In that regard, Vidorreta believes both La Laguna Tenerife and Unicaja responded admirably after their semifinal heartbreaks. “I think both teams recovered good feelings after poor performances in their respective semifinals,” he noted, adding that his team managed to lead for long stretches without ever breaking the game open. “We were ahead by a few points—six was probably the biggest difference. But they always found a way to respond.”
Vidorreta pointed out that the game was decided by small details in the third and fourth quarters. “Turnovers hurt us,” he lamented, particularly frustrated because several mistakes came at uncharacteristic moments. “We missed some free throws, threw some passes into the stands—things we hadn’t done all game.” He added, “The game slipped away by a small margin. We had opportunities to score that we didn’t capitalize on.”
Still, the coach chose to focus on his players’ competitiveness in a difficult context, compounded by injuries. “It was important to regain our feeling today, and to do it with two key absences like Marce and Rokas,” he valued.
Vidorreta believes the team needed to reconnect with itself after the poor image left in certain moments of the semifinal. “By competing at the level we did, we erased some of the ghosts,” he acknowledged.
When asked if the win went to the team that needed it more, Vidorreta conceded that Unicaja “probably came needing that victory more,” but quickly stressed that his side also had hunger. “Both of us wanted to win, and we showed it. We would have liked to be home since yesterday, but as always, we gave a good image.” He even noted the tone of the game: “There was an unspoken commitment from both sides not to hurt each other, which was also important.”
Looking ahead to the final stretch of the Liga Endesa, Vidorreta emphasized the need to move on quickly. “Now we have to stay very focused on the league because there’s a lot of parity and very tough games in the coming weeks.”
