For the first time in a decade season, Shohoku Backers Manager – RaneLone attended the post match interview after the thrilling final match victory over the Pekanbaru Jaguars.
"I’m glad to hang on to win back to back championship. I felt that the game can go either ways here. Pekanbaru Jaguars was really pushing us to the limit and their home supporters are not your normal fans to mess with. The pressure is mostly on us as we not only have to defend our title, and of course make sure we don’t break the tradition of conceding the title to Great 8. In this final, I have to admit that we made a lot of gambles, especially the tactics in game 3.
We realised how important Aniol Soler is to our team after he got fouled out in game 2, so we instructed the in-form Agisilaos Kostis to switch defence with Aniol Soler, hoping that Aniol Soler can continue to perform as our usual playmaker.
Another major change is at the PF/C positions. We felt that Sertug Acay should play a more prominent role in this match-up. He was brought in at the PF position to challenge Huo Xiangsong for the basket and make his presence known at the defensive end against Petrus Alexandersson. He has a tendency of putting up good numbers against us. I must say he is a monster in the post, and truly the undisputed MVP this season.
Nevertheless, I thank the managers in SBBL for all the supports they had provided to make SBBL so great. I’m looking forward to the next season. Pekanbaru Jaguars and the other top teams are definitely the teams to watch as I believe they will make another bid to compete at the highest level.”