"I like the team to be ambitious and believe that it can do some great things. That is very good because ambition gives you extra strength. What I don't like is for us to lose focus; it is an ambitious situation, but perhaps it is not the most realistic one right now," the Basque coach explained ahead of Casademont's next game, when the Zaragoza side will host Girona this Saturday (6:00 p.m.).
García de Vitoria's approach is therefore to focus solely on "the next game" before facing two key home matches and two away games ahead of the break. "I also don't think, because the season is very long, that what happens in these games will define the season. If you manage to achieve a good record in these next four games before the break, great, and if not, you will have to do it afterward," García de Vitoria stressed.
The red-and-black club faces two games at the Príncipe Felipe. Photo: Casademont Zaragoza
Even so, the red-and-black coach highlighted the Príncipe Felipe factor as crucial for the upcoming games at the Zaragoza venue: "For us, the fans are part of the plan. We are going to need the support of our people, of the Felipe, more than ever because when you are in difficult situations, as we are right now in terms of injuries, that energy the Felipe and the Marea Roja give you is part of our game plan. That is what we are going to rely on: our character and our quality."
THE OPPONENT: GIRONA
Speaking about the Aragonese side's next opponent, García de Vitoria highlighted Girona's "very good form." "They have won six of their last eight games, including four in a row, and in their last two ACB games they scored more than 100 points. They are an extremely difficult team. On top of that, they have a top coach in the competition who knows the league perfectly, and I think the team plays very good basketball, fast but not out of control," the Casademont coach stressed.
"They are a team that commits many turnovers and recovers a lot of balls because they want to play at a high pace on both sides of the court. They are very aggressive in the first eight seconds; they don't mind taking shots in those first eight seconds, and they have a group of four very dangerous perimeter players with the ball in their hands," García de Vitoria explained, pointing to "controlling the pace" and "defensive rebounding" as the keys to the game against the Catalan side.
