Jasikevicius: “Basketball is energy, effort, physicality, and only then tactics” 0

On Thursday evening Zalgiris will set out to bounce back in the Round 10 EuroLeague matchup against Crvena Zvezda in Zalgirio Arena.

It will be the first time in EuroLeague history that both games of a double week are played in the same city. Nevertheless, coach Sarunas Jasikevicius doesn’t see too much of a difference in that.

“I think it’s equal for all the teams, maybe now we have a bit of an advantage, in a month it will all turn around. I can’t answer from the club’s perspective. They were worried about ticket sales, as far as I heard, whether two games a week isn’t too much.”

Speaking purely basketball-wise, the specialist did not recognize a big advantage of having a double EuroLeague week played all at home.

“No big deal. You have to look inside yourself whether you’re ready, if you can do one thing or the other. You have to bring the energy. You don’t need to fly anywhere, your opponents are flying in, so you have to show unlimited energy. Which we didn’t do yesterday. We started playing too late. As I said in the press conference, that worries me most.”

Asked whether energy would be the main accent before Thursday’s game, Jasikevicius stripped basketball down to the basics.

“Yes, that’s where it all starts. Basketball first and foremost is energy, effort, physicality. Only then it comes to tactics. We’ve been talking about the same thing over and over again.”

Saras noted some similarities between the two sides, addressing that both of them operate on a stricter budget.

“Us and them, we’re the last ones to pick our players when it comes to talent. But nobody cares about that. We need to compete, we need to play better, we need to kick those numbers down. We need more physicality, we need to mature quicker, and show that for longer periods of time in those 40 minutes.”

Crvena Zvezda’s defense has many of the opponents locked down, as they are amongst the teams with the lowest points conceded in the league.

“If we take them individually, Crvena Zvezda has a lot of great defensive players. Lazic, Jenkins, Brown, off the bench they’ve got guys who can defend. Under the basket they might not have the most mobile, but players who still play very good post defense. We need to draw them out, move and get around them. They’re a very good defensive team.”