The coach of Borca from Čačak is very emotional after the huge victory in the fight for survival in the ABA league
The fighter from Čačak achieved a historic victory against Budućnost, because with it he remained in the ABA league at least until the play-off for survival against the runner-up from the Second ABA League (Helios Domžale or Krka).
After the end for the heart attack, Čačan coach Dejan “Džoli” Mijatović held an emotional press conference:
“I don’t know how fit I will be for this press conference. Believe me, these are the most difficult moments in my life and in my career that I have been going through in the last two or three weeks together with this team. Primarily due to the fact that I am from Čačan and that I played in that club, was also a coach. You know what kind of basketball city Čačak is and with all the pleasure it brings, doing anything in basketball in Čačak is a great responsibility and obligation,” said the experienced coach.
“Congratulations to my boys who endured everything. We came here to leave our hearts on the floor, with great responsibility and obligation. Kudos to the boys because they mentally managed to endure everything. And what I said, those last 40 minutes tonight are ours, nobody can take away from us fighting to the end. I’m glad we succeeded, but there’s no room for euphoria for us, because a barrage awaits us, tomorrow we’ll wait for the name of the opponent. For us, the fight and the war continue,” he added.
Borac finished the season with a record of 7-19, which MZT Skopje also has, but with a worse mutual performance. Thus, the Serbian team remained in the fight, while the representative of North Macedonia will be relegated.
“The future arrived on Thursday, dominated the previous game against Ulm, experienced elimination and I told the guys to try to use that emotional discharge. That’s the only way you can against a team like this, Green, Reynolds, great shooters, Bel-Haynes Canadian national team, Lecomte Belgian , Kuridža, O’Brien, the players who won the Eurocup. I just told the boys that these 40 minutes are ours and that they should do their best to do this with raised foreheads, no matter what happens,” said Mijatović.
Vlada Jovanović, the Serbian coach from the Budućnosti bench, left the floor dissatisfied.
“I expected a very difficult match after the game in Ulm, where we showed two faces, so I don’t repeat myself. We arrived very late after that, the players showed a reaction in training and a desire to play a good game, but they didn’t show that tonight. I’m sorry is for the sake of the team and the audience, regardless of the fact that we secured third place. We wanted to finish it in the best way. Everything that happened before that, as well as the tight schedule, left its mark”.
Bubućnost, regardless of tonight’s defeat, is sure to be third, and in the last match of the league part, they will host Partizan in “Morača” on Friday, from 19:00. During this time, Braca will only think about the decisive matches for survival in the highest regional rank.