Jasikevicius: “Bayern is a very high quality team” 5
Zalgiris left for Munich on Thursday morning, in chase of their sixth win. The green-and-whites get ready to face Bayern, who share the exact same, 5-6 record in the EuroLeague.
Both teams will be missing key players, as Zalgiris will try to get by without Nate Wolters and Antanas Kavaliauskas, while Bayern coach Dejan Radonjic will have to plan his tactics without Devin Booker on the roster.
The game against the German champions, who’ve made it back to the Euroleague after a three-year break tips off at 21:30 Lithuanian time, on Friday evening.
Zalgiris coach Sarunas Jasikevicius gave his pre-game comments, as the team was about to leave for Munich.
“Our opponents are surely a rising power in European basketball. It is a very physical team both inside and on the perimeter. And you know, they’ve already achieved some incredible victories. I think it is a team and an organization that has a lot of potential and will go really far in Europe.”
Asked about the impact of the injuries on both teams, Jasikevicius was adamant that his team will not be changing its’ style of play but did not deny that the injuries will influence both teams.
“There are other guys who will be taking Kavaliauskas’ and Wolters’ place tomorrow and everyone will have to step up to fill the void, but the style of play will not change. We have quite a large rotation, so we just have to keep on moving forward. For them, Devin Booker is an important part of the rotation. He’s an athletic center who can switch on defense well and just gives the team a solid 20 minutes of basketball. The other players will have to show something extra, but if they want to continue playing in their own style, with two really big guys, of course they lose something.”
Jasikevicius singled out Stefan Jovic as a key element of their game, noting his playmaking skills.
“Jovic is very important and a lot of their play relies on him. We’ll have to try limiting his playmaking skills. We’ve also got to keep our eyes on their marksmen, Lo and Koponen, so they couldn’t punish us from the perimeter. As I said, it is a very high quality team.”
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