Jasikevicius: “Valencia has a lot of options offensively” 5

Zalgiris head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius traditionally spoke to members of the media before the team’s EuroLeague battle against Valencia Basket.

Before the Round 13 battle, the coach highlighted the offensive potential of the Spanish side, but claimed to be looking at his own problems first, one of which is an injury to Rokas Jokubaitis, as he is expected to miss 3-4 weeks of action.

“Valencia is a good offensive team. They’ve got a lot of options. They play a bit of a different game to the other teams. They try to pull that five spot away from the basket with Dubljevic, with Tobey. They’ve got a lot of options on offense, a very free-flowing game. We have to try to limit that. We need to know what we can give away, what we can’t and lay physical basketball for longer periods of time.”

This week was unusually free for Zalgiris, with their last game coming on Sunday. Jasikevicius noted that it was important to reset both physically and emotionally.

“It’s important after all these weeks to clear our minds. We spent two days without basketball. The freshness at this stage is important, and a lot of games await now. We tried to refresh ourselves and practice a bit. We’re trying to get K.C. Rivers into the team, explain rotations, and just look at ourselves, what we can be better at. That’s where a lot of our mistakes stem from.”

The basketball specialist claims that every single game is a must-win for the team, without singling out particular matchups.

“We need to win tomorrow, then come Tuesday, we’ll need to win on Tuesday. Then Friday, we need to win again. And this way for 10 months.”

Despite Zalgiris’ losing streak, Lukas Lekavicius has shown statistical improvements to his game. Jasikevicius was pleased with how Lukas has shown to be more comfortable with his role, but still expects improvements in the playmaking department.

“The point guard is looked at more by how the team is functioning. Of course, the team can function well if you’re scoring. On the other hand, if you’re not, you still have to guide the team forward. We need to limit our turnovers, and offensively he’s finding his situations, where he can punish his opponents with floaters, three-pointers or his speed. But again, it should be a balance, on how the team functions with you as a playmaker and when you take initiative and try to finish it yourself. Both ways, he has to be aggressive every time he has the ball. Just like every player.”

Comments

  1. 15min 24sek

    Zalgiris nesitraukia is Izaidejo medziokles

  2. Fanas

    Tikiuos tikrai aktyviai iesko

  3. zalgiris Maccabi

    Liko apie 10 8 bilietai sold out dar gali but si vakara

  4. Pastiprinimo grandyje

    Zalgirio komandos akiratyje yra NBA zaide krepsininkai ir tie zaidejai kurie nedalyvauja pagrindiniuse turnyruose

  5. Fanas

    Per paskutinius kelis metus Eurolygoje (nepamenu nei vienų rungtynių, kad būtų kitaip) Žalgiriui daugiausia problemų pridarydavo tie žaidėjai, kurie ilgą laiką arba labai prastai pataikydavo, arba žaisdavo labai mažai. Ir kai tik rungtynės su Žalgiriu, išlenda koks šūdas ir prišaudo tritaškių arba beveik nežaidęs žaidėjas primeta tiek taškų, kad būna ragai. Na, tokia jau yra tendencija. Todėl Žalgiriukui reikia atkreipti dėmesį į tokius Valensijos žaidėjus, kitaip garantuoju, tokie “noname’ai” pridarys mums daug žalos. Šiaip labai tikiuosi, kad Žalgiris rytoj pralauš ledus ir pagaliau pradėsim skinti pergales.