“Zalgiris” Kaunas (22/2) beat “Lietkabelis” (13/11) 83:77.
After the match, the “Žalgiris” strategist was not satisfied with the team’s psychological attitude and highlighted the importance of psychological stability.
“I am happy with the victory, because this match is at a complicated time. Lots of demands, lots to do. But when it comes to psychology, this is a big step back. We did what we had to do. We did not shine, we controlled the match. But then we relaxed, we lost balls. Some players played tragically. It seems there is no will left to concentrate. Basketball is a very mental game. If you play without concentration, you’ll make a fool of yourself and the whole team.”
On Thursday, in the EuroLeague, “Zalgiris” will face the test of Monaco. The coach emphasized that with such preparation it can be difficult to perform well in away matches and jokingly singled out where he would go to buy psychological stability.
“I would go to IKI or Maxima to buy psychological stability.” It’s not something you can get here and now. We took not one, but two steps back. We have 72 hours to find the right psychological preparation against one of the best teams in Europe.”
Deividas Sirvydis played the best in “Lietkabelis”, scoring 23 points, rebounding 4 balls and collecting 29 utility points in 32 and a half minutes. He was assisted by Gediminas Orelikas, who scored 20 points, 7 rebounds and 21 utility points in 29 minutes.
The problem caused by these two players was singled out by A. Trinchieri, emphasizing that attitude was the main reason why it was not possible to control D. Sirvydis and G. Orelikos.
“We made a lot of stupid mistakes, we allowed free throws. Attitude was the main problem. The same problem was with G. Orelik, who we allowed to feel the game at the beginning of the match.”
Meanwhile, Lietkabel’s strategist Nenad Čanakas called Žalgiris the best team playing basketball in Europe and explained the problems that arose in the game.
“Congratulations to “Žalgiris”. At the moment, in my opinion, they are playing the best basketball in Europe. To compete with them we cannot play “empty” minutes. We have to execute the game plan. You can’t improvise against them. They play very aggressively, so it is difficult to maintain the game plan.
They scored 40 points in the first half of the game. During the long break, we didn’t change much, we just changed the intensity of the game. To me, that’s a sign that we can compete with them, we just need to execute those simple things. We have to do more, not just follow the rules”, N. Čanakas explained the match.
