Zalgiris Kaunas defeated Lietkabelis Panevezys (103-93) and, after a convincing 3-0 semifinal sweep, advanced to the LKL Finals. After the game, Azuolas Tubelis, who scored 20 points on Sunday evening, shared his thoughts.
“We had control, but still, all of us know we can play better. We definitely didn’t play well – I think the coaches would say the same, that they weren’t very happy with this game. And of course, this is Lietkabelis – one of the toughest teams in Lithuania. They show it with their physicality, regardless of injuries. For years they’ve proven they can be among the top four teams in Lithuania. No one said it would be easy. At the end, we let them feel like they could win, and then it became difficult. We had to play patiently and smart, looking for weaknesses, but overall we managed it quite well,” said Tubelis.
The Zalgiris forward also mentioned Sylvain Francisco’s 100th point and joked about unsettled team dinner “debts.”
“I don’t know, you should ask our captain, but it’s been a while since something was brought into the locker room after a game. Maybe we’ll settle those when we win something bigger,” Tubelis said with a smile.
Finally, the big man commented on a humorous moment late in the third quarter, when after a Lietkabelis basket, Maodo Lo ran on offense without inbounding the ball.
“I was on the court too. I think he was focused on his man and didn’t see where the ball was. I also heard our staff shouting ‘go, go’, which means push the ball forward, so he must have looked at the coach and just went. I saw him going and ran as well, but then everyone – even the Lietkabelis coach – started laughing, so it was a fun moment,” Tubelis shared.
