Jasikevicius: “Milan is a team with enormous potential” 0

Zalgiris is heading out to Milan, where they will face AX Armani for their first EuroLeague road game of the 2019-2020 season. The team brought in some changes to its practice regime and went through a practice in Kaunas before their flight to Milan.

Sarunas Jasikevicius traditionally spoke to members of the media and explained this decision.

“We want to focus on the players’ recovery, not practice. This year we’ve got at least four more EuroLeague games, the Lithuanian play-offs are going to be a bit longer, too. That’s a lot of games, and we want to prioritize recovery over individual practices.”

Jasikevicius admitted not knowing how the process will look on double EuroLeague weeks, though.

“I don’t know yet. We’ll have different options, depending on where we play, when we get back and so on. Those double weeks when we have two away games, or two home games, it will be more game-time decisions.”

Zalgiris upcoming opponent went through a number of changes this summer, and also started their season with a loss against Bayern Munich. Nevertheless, the Milan side has left an impression on Zalgiris’ head coach.

“They’re solid. They’re a team that’s trying to play basketball the right way, starting with defense. They pay attention to details. There was a lot of changes – a new coach, with totally different ideas, a different system, so they do need time as well. They’ve also got injuries. All in all, their potential is enormous.”

With a number of injuries throughout the roster, Milan coach Ettore Messina has had to rely on the leadership of Luis Scola, who joined the team right before the start of the season.

“Scola brings the same thing he brought to all his teams. He is a super-professional, and can cause problems both close to the basket, and away from it. He really plays solid basketball and reacts to situations well. You can see he’s gelling with the team and the coach trusts him.”