Zalgiris Kaunas fought until the final buzzer but ultimately had to acknowledge Fenerbahce Istanbul’s victory in the opening game of the best-of-five EuroLeague quarterfinal series, losing 78-89. After the game, head coach Tomas Masiulis shared his comments.

“We faced a very strong team. First of all, our physicality was not at the level required for all 40 minutes to compete with the champions here. The first and third quarters were quite solid, but the second was disastrous. We allowed them to gain confidence, and after that it became very difficult. Their aggressiveness knocked us out of rhythm, along with Tarik Biberovic’s three-pointers – on at least three of those shots, we simply had to prevent him from getting the attempt. Offensively, we also didn’t move the ball well, which caused our offense to stall,” said Masiulis.

The coach also pointed to the team’s character.

“Yes, those comeback attempts can give us something positive. We showed that at times we can play the way we want and the way we need to play, which means we have to stay aggressive. Defensively, of course, it’s not easy to stop them because they have many weapons and are well prepared against our systems. We’ll watch the video, draw conclusions, and go back to battle,” the strategist noted.

The second game of the series will be played Thursday in Istanbul, with the series moving to Kaunas on May 6.