Saulo Hernández, head coach of CB Zamora, admitted feeling “quite a lot of anger” after the defeat against Alicante, because “it’s not about thinking we lost a game or a chance to make the playoffs—it’s about realizing how incredibly hard it is to even have this opportunity. I don’t know if we’ll ever get it again. It’s great that we’ve gotten used to doing magic in Zamora, but the reality is we’re competing in an incredibly tough league full of top-level players and outstanding coaches. This year, everything came together as perfectly as possible for us to have this game and feel like we were on the verge of an ACB promotion playoff, only to have it snatched away. That hurts a lot.”
Hernández believes “the team and the city couldn’t have done any better. The fans filled the arena, they carried us along, and the players played—if not their best game of the season, certainly one of them. Everything we had worked on, they executed perfectly. For many minutes, we had the tie—if you can call it that—in our favor, feeling it was more likely we’d break the game open than they would get close. But in the final two minutes, after Peris’s triple on the fast break, they made some very high-quality baskets, including a huge three-pointer with 35 seconds left. They did what a team of this level can do, and we—maybe due to fatigue, inexperience, or Alicante’s quality—couldn’t finish the plays that had worked for us earlier.”
The coach said that if before the preseason someone had told them “Roberts would have a layup to get us into the playoffs, we’d all have signed for that. That’s no consolation today, but I want to think this season has helped keep the fans, the businesses, and the institutions engaged, and I urge everyone to keep supporting the club.”
Saulo Hernández recalled that last year, no one left the stands before seeing the team off: “I showed those images to these players on the first day and told them: ‘Look, this is Zamora.’ And in Zamora, these things happen even after a loss, because I think we’ve created an identity where the fans value more than just the result—they appreciate giving everything on the court. Over nine months, you could criticize the players for having good or bad days, but any fan is proud of how these players represented this city this year.”
Analyzing the game against Alicante, the Zamora coach stressed that “for much of the game, we had good actions and good shooting, but they held on in the second half through Alex Jordá. When we managed to slow him down, other players who hadn’t been significant until then stepped up. That’s what you get with a roster like Alicante’s—they have twelve top-level players who deserve their playoff spot. They’ve been in playoff contention all season long. Right now, we’re hurting because we came so close, but we’re also proud to have sat at the same table as Alicante, and that it’s become normal to think we can compete with them and possibly be in an ACB promotion playoff.”
Regarding next season, Saulo Hernández acknowledged it’s very difficult to keep the current squad together because “it’s not about a lack of support in Zamora—it’s that elsewhere, they support a lot more, for whatever reason. We’re thrilled with the support we’re getting from all of Zamora and we can’t be more grateful, but right now, we’re a showcase team, and we have to try…”
