Simone Fontecchio: Defending on Luka Doncic? I tried, but he kept hitting step-back after step-back

Simone Fontecchio always in the spotlight for the Detroit Pistons, with a new career-high in last night’s game against Luka Doncic’s Mavs.

The Italian forward had to defend on the Slovenian phenom more than expected because of Ausar Thompson’s injury.

“I hope it’s nothing serious. I haven’t had the chance to talk to him. But Of course, he gave us a lot of help defensively. I was on Luka. I tried to do the best I could, but he kept hitting step-back after step-back. At that point, it’s tough. But we got to do a better job collectively, I think, on defense.

Just to stay solid, help us, each other a little bit more, and trying to not give up the easy one. I don’t know how many and-one they had today. It was just too easy for them, and probably some offensive rebound. The good thing is that we kept fighting. We kept fighting the whole game, even if we was down. They kept hitting tough shots, but We were right there. We were right there, and we never gave up”.

On his new career-high.

“Felt good, but I wanted to get a win. I wanted to win the second in a row, especially now that we’re at home. I think we got to take advantage of that. I don’t care much about my career-high or scoring. As I said, some other time, I want to do whatever it takes to help the team. I wasn’t very effective last game, but I tried to help the team the same way. I got to grab some rebounds, play some defense, and try to help the others. It’s not going to be making 10 shots every single game, but whatever I can do to help them, it’s what I’m looking for”.