On Friday evening, Zalgiris Kaunas played their fourth consecutive away game, losing to Baskonia Vitoria, 91-102. After the game, Sylvain Francisco, who was the leading scorer for Zalgiris with 30 points, spoke about the reasons for the loss.
“We lost – that’s all I can say. We can’t win games, especially away games, when we concede 100 points. With three minutes left, we had the lead, but we blew it. We can’t play like this – we gave it our all against ASVEL and EA7 Emporio Armani, and this game was supposed to be the end of the month, but we let this chance slip away. Not only did we let them score 100 points, but we also missed our own shots. We missed from under the basket at a time when we couldn’t afford to miss, because they were shooting accurately at the end of the game,” said the Frenchman disappointedly.
At the end of the fourth quarter, Zalgiris had a 2-18 stretch, and Francisco pointed out a lack of aggression.
“We have to figure this out. I think that when we had the advantage, we started playing with too much confidence and didn’t try to be aggressive and hit them even harder. That’s what we have to do, but we didn’t do it today. We all have to play together and fulfill our tasks, but we didn't do that. In the third quarter, they scored 29 points, and that can’t happen. With a five-point lead, we can’t start playing like that and get comfortable,” said the guard.
Next Tuesday, EuroLeague action returns to Kaunas, where Zalgiris will take on AS Monaco.
