After becoming the Basketball Champions League Champion and winning Final Four MVP title, Kendrick Perry from Unicaja Malaga wanted to celebrate with the team.
Unicaja Malaga won against Tenerife (80-75) in the Finals of the Basketball Champions League and became eight winner of this young competition, Kendrick Perry was more then pleased that his team returned to the Final Four after finishing at the fourth place last year.
“It’s been hell of the ride from last year to this year. I think our team showed a lot of character. From being in the position we been last year and coming up short to winning this championship this year. We needed to stay in the process and we all understood that. We knew we couldn’t start this new season at the Final Four, we had to earn it. And it was day by day process. and after almost one year we can call ourselves Champs. I got this MVP title, but this is not just about me. It is about the whole team, the rest of the guys with me included. They all allowed me to be myself when needed and this award is also a team effort”, said Perry who missed the final shot in the Semi-Finals last year but returned and took the trophy.
“I put that shot out of my head, and to be honest I still haven’t watched that Semi-Finals. I didn’t want to live in the past. I understood that this season is a new season. I am glad what we accomplished here, and that we are the champs now”.
Malaga was leading in the first three quarter, but in the last part of the game, Tenerife managed to get back and even took the lead. But eventually Malaga managed to return the leadership and finish the tournament as the Champions.
“You need to give credit to Tenerife, they are hard-working team with an excellent coach and we understand that. We knew it wasn’t gonna be a 15-20 points win. They all know each other very well, and resumes of their players speaks for themselves. We understood it was going to be a dog fight, but at the end of the day we just made a couple of more plays. And finally got on top, but we all need to give them credit for the hard fight during the Finals and this whole tournament”, said MVP of the Final Four.
