Zalgiris Kaunas assistant coach Mantas Sernius highlighted the key moment that caused the Lithuanian champions to struggle in the opening EuroLeague quarterfinal clash against Fenerbahce Istanbul, and also commented on the adjustments made by the Turkish club.
Zalgiris will look to even the series at 1–1 on Thursday.
“We made mistakes that simply can’t happen at this stage,” said the coach. “We know where we are right now, so we want to minimize those mistakes and try to correct them. The opponent is exceptional – we knew there would be mistakes, but there were too many.”
“Everything started when we had to substitute Nigel, and at the same time Sylvain Francisco got scratched in the face,” Sernius continued. “The referee stopped the game and told him to fix it. While the medical staff were treating Sylvain, those two or three minutes really hurt us. We were left on the court without our two main point guards, and we needed help from the bench. Losing eight points during that stretch had a significant negative impact.”
In the first matchup, Zalgiris’ bench players scored a total of nine points (Laurynas Birutis 4, Edgaras Ulanovas 3, Maodo Lo and Dustin Sleva 1 each).
Sernius also said that the atmosphere inside Fenerbahce’s home arena was felt even before tip-off.
“Absolutely – these are the playoffs, and not everyone has experienced this yet, especially playing against Fenerbahce, where Saras has instilled a strong defensive mentality,” Sernius said, speaking about the extra psychological pressure on the bench players. “You could feel that pregame aura, but it’s part of our job to deal with it.”
– How much sleep did you get today?
– As much as we did – we didn’t come here to sleep.
– Is the idea in this series to always have either Nigel or Francisco on the court?
– That intention has been very clear; we understood it already around Christmas, but it’s not always possible to execute it perfectly.
– Could there be a change in the starting lineup so that either only Cisco or only Nigel starts the game?
– That’s not my decision. The head coach will decide. We don’t want to speculate about the starting lineup, but the signal is clear – one of the guards has to be on the floor at all times.
– Edgaras Ulanovas said Fenerbahce didn’t surprise much. Did you notice any specific adjustments from Saras?
– We’ve watched a lot of their games. Whenever Fenerbahce played around the same time, we made sure to watch because their tactics are very similar, and you can see what works and what doesn’t.
“We definitely noticed adjustments – how they defended our power forwards, how they involved Cisco for 30 minutes both offensively and defensively, and how they defended our post-up game. Their physicality was at a very high level for 30 to 40 minutes, and that’s something we’ll have to withstand.
“We’re preparing the team for that. We knew it was coming, but… often in life, you have to experience it yourself to fully understand it.”
– In the first game, you tried to hide Francisco on defense – first guarding Tarik Biberovic, then Bonzie Colson. Those probably weren’t ideal matchups, since they use their advantages well.
– We always have Francisco defend a player at the three position. I don’t think that was new to Saras – they likely anticipated this option before the game. Looking at the analysis, Cisco only gave up five points, and for the other situations, the rest of us have to take responsibility.
