Martin Schiller not surprised by Bayern’s impressive record 0

Zalgiris is set to take on Bayern Munich in Kaunas on Wednesday evening in the Round 16 EuroLeague matchup. Before the year’s last EuroLeague home game, Zalgiris head coach Martin Schiller highlighted the opponents’ defensive capabilities.

“Bayern is a very strong team defensively, very well organized. They’re very long and athletic and defensively compact. Scoring the basketball against them will be a big challenge. On the other end, they’re a very talented and deep team, with Baldwin and Dedovic the creative factors of the group. Zipser playing a lot at the four, as the designated shooter for them.”

Bayern has been very successful this season, sitting at the third spot in the EuroLeague standings. Schiller gave props to their coach

He’s a very good, very respected coach. A lot of people talk about his offense and the quality of spacing the floor. The thing people don’t talk about so much is the quality of the defense. Also in the days in Bamberg, when I worked in Germany. They were always extremely good on defense. He’s good at teaching.

Speaking of the greatest improvements Zalgiris has shown throughout the season, Schiller also stressed his team’s defense.

“I think on the defensive end. It’s day-by-day work, and game-by-game work trying to get better. The main focus is laying a foundation and creating a defensive identity.”

Schiller also spoke of the chemistry and atmosphere in the team.

“As boring as it sounds, it’s day-by-day and game-by-game. When we were losing those games in a row, the group was always together, and always working hard. The characters of this group are very high standard. It’s natural that you enjoy yourself when you win, but more important is that they worked hard, showed character when we were on the losing streak. There’s no magic formula here.