Following the ACB win over Unicaja Malaga, Chus Mateo said he regrets leaving Alberto Abalde out of the 12-man squad in Real Madrid's loss to Fenerbahce. The Spanish coach also called Gabriel Deck "a gladiator" and broke down the Argentine's contribution.
It's rare for a coach to openly admit that leaving a player out of the squad for technical reasons was "a mistake."
However, this is what Real Madrid coach Chus Mateo did on Sunday afternoon after Real Madrid's 90-77 win over Unicaja Malaga. The Spanish tactician wasn't referring to the ACB contest, where Hugo Gonzalez was left out, but to last Thursday's EuroLeague match against Fenerbahce that ended up in a loss for the home side.
Against Unicaja, Alberto Abalde was one of Real Madrid's best performers with 12 points and 21 in PIR. He also dished out three assists and grabbed seven rebounds. His presence on the court led Mateo to admit he was mistaken.
"Alberto Abalde has been incredible," he said in the presser.
"The other day I left him out and I was probably wrong because I shouldn't have. We're using a particular rotation system because there are 13 players, but we missed him the other day and that's a mistake by the coach because I'm the one who's making the decisions and that's my problem," Mateo conceded.
"Today he has shown that he's a champion and he understood what we wanted. Sometimes, you have to discard someone, well, you make a mistake and the other day I was wrong," explained Mateo.
But Abalde wasn't the only Real Madrid player to step up against Unicaja. The same goes for Gabriel Deck, who played 30 minutes in Sunday's contest and scored 24 points.
Deck brought the ball up when he had to, entered the paint when it was his turn, used fouls intelligently and wore down whoever was paired with him on defense.
"He's always a gladiator," Mateo praised the Argentinian forward's work.
"A key player because, regardless of whether he makes shots or not, he always helps on defense. He's very committed. He's a very quiet player, he doesn't make a fuss, but he's always there.
This year his start to the season hasn't been at a very high level, but you can't say it's been bad either. It's true that we always need him to be at his best, but in time we'll get it," said the Real Madrid coach.
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