Zalgiris Kaunas will face Partizan Belgrade this Friday. The Serbian team had recently put together a six-game winning streak, which was snapped in the previous round after an overtime loss to Anadolu Efes Istanbul, 72–79.
Ahead of Zalgiris’ trip to Serbia, head coach Tomas Masiulis shared his thoughts.
“We are going to one of the hottest arenas in the EuroLeague. The opponent has also been in very good form lately – they’ve won six of their last seven games and only lost yesterday after overtime, so a big challenge awaits us. Since Carlick Jones returned, they’ve been playing very good basketball,” said the coach.
Masiulis also spoke about the team’s emotional state following the loss to Dubai Basketball.
“We’re trying to reset – in the end, it was just one game. Of course, it’s difficult for everyone to lose in that way, when we controlled the game for 30 minutes and then gave everything away too easily in the final 10 minutes, failing to maintain concentration for all 40 minutes, which is extremely important in the EuroLeague. But again, it was just one game. We’re looking ahead, we’re professionals, we need to regroup and keep doing our job, because we’ve played many games well,” Masiulis said.
The coach also highlighted Nick Calathes, with whom he has previously worked.
“He is a top-level point guard who sees the court, angles, switches, and knows how we defend, as well as our defensive strengths and weaknesses. It will be very important to stop him and make him take shots rather than create for others, but that won’t be easy either, because he’s an elite player,” emphasized Masiulis.
Partizan leads the EuroLeague in steals, and the strategist pointed to decision-making as one of the key factors.
“We always emphasize taking care of the ball and making better decisions on offense. We definitely want to value possession and make as few mistakes as possible, but that’s not easy,” said Masiulis.
The game between Partizan and Zalgiris will tip off on Friday at 9:30 PM Lithuanian time.
