“Žalgiris” was pulled from the pits by the team meeting and unprecedented support from above | Euroleague

This was the perfect start to the Shar men’s third quarter.

Barcelona crashed the “Žalgiris” so abruptly after the break that Martin Schiller barely managed to jump out of his chair to stop the snowfall with a minute of rest.

In the 87-second period, Barcelona won 7-0 and ran menacingly 46:33.

Žalgiris’s bench had quietly supported the team from the controversial ball. The guests returned from the locker room pulling the tricks prepared by Shar from their sleeve and that section had serious symptoms of breaking the game. Barcelona seemed to turn the second remaining part of the duel into a formality.

But then that scream was heard from the bleachers on the roofs.

“Play together! Stay in the fight! Paulius Motiejūnas yelled there.” Go ahead, guys! “

It wasn’t a cry of despair fueled by excitement as he watched his team fall into a sinkhole. It was sincere support of a positive tone to ignite a team that had been broken at first sight.

When Martin Schiller once a week broke the Žalgiris stadium music, Paulius Motiejūnas was now more famous than the double-digit crushed green-white reserve bench with 14 basketball players and 8 coaches and staff members. Or even Šarūnas Jasikevičius, although he has had to raise his voice more than once due to the undisciplined play of the Barcelona basketball players.

“Come back, come back! Go ahead defense! It’s okay, Luke, it’s okay! Paulius Motiejūnas did not stop.

In order for the team to really hear him, Paulius Motiejūnas put his hands to his mouth so that the sound did not dissipate to the parts, but instead flew directly into the plaza. This ripped off the mask for a moment so that it would not interfere with the clear transmission of his message.

He squatted as the team tried to defend themselves from the Catalan attacks. He jumped up cheerfully, clenching his fists triumphantly.

“Rock, take a breath! Milai, give it energy! Go ahead guys! Okay, okay! ”- sitting for a moment, the director of” Žalgiris “jumped to his feet.

The result did not change, and fellow journalists smiled upon seeing such an energetic Father Motiejūnas. But despite the double-digit difference, he wasn’t going to raise his hands and stay glued to the chair.

P.Motiejūnas, the director of Žalgiris, has created a pleasant, diplomatic and restrained image in public. But after breaking all those formalities, deep down in his heart he’s a true basketball fan. Not in vain during home games even at 15 thousand. He didn’t like rubbing near the team bench so that people wouldn’t stick their fingers in the flashes of his emotions. Unlike away games, where he urges the team not to drop their hands on the back of the bench with the same shouts of positive signals, even if the opponent seems to have already pressed “Žalgiris” to the ground.

On Friday, the night of Shar’s return, Žalgiris got the message from the team leader. Nigel Hayes and Thomas Walkup dissected the grid in triples and intrigue returned in the 33rd minute (54:57). The “Žalgiris” bench joined P. Motiejūnas and Žalgiris’ voices echoed from the empty stands.

“We heard it,” Rokas Jokubaitis agreed. – We had a team meeting a few days ago. We stressed that we have to be more dominant, supporting each other. That support really was felt in the bank. Everyone stood up, even our manager listened from the hostel. This added a boost. It doesn’t allow you to lower your head and move on. We can see something positive in this regard. “

A week ago, in the fight against Zenit St. Petersburg, curses and reproaches were heard instead of shouts of support. Both P. Motiejūnas and the television screen viewers saw them from their place. Such an undertone of the battle led Žalgiris nowhere.

Missing a more positive and supportive attitude in difficult times, P. Motiejūnas organized a team meeting a few days ago. He showed examples of negative video episodes that don’t help the team, but how an emotional anchor drags them into the swamp of defeat.

Handcuffed during the attack, stormy reproaches to teammates, curses and despair on the bench, KC Rivers, who did not shake hands with Lukas Lekavičius on the ground, looked like one of the most negative episodes of “Žalgiris”.

“Yes, it was emphasized,” Martin Schiller said of the positive energy from the bench. – The team brought to the plaza the ideas of the meeting, which we highlighted in our conversation. The hallway is so empty that, especially at home, now we can’t get pushed around by fans. However, in an empty room, bank activity can change the game even without fans. We’ve alredy talk about that. And the players responded perfectly ”.

The disturbed Barcelona lost another ball and Rokas Jokubaitis, who rose high, was already preparing to shake with a powerful launch. When the ball crashed into the basket, it bounced off the goal and soared into the air so high that P. Motiejūnas would have caught it from the shelter there.

Immediately in the next attack, on the opposite side of the field, Rokas missed Kyle Kurica, who escaped to the three-point line, and crushed Žalgiris with a 54:60 accurate shot.

“I don’t know what to say”, frustrated by the wasted opportunity, Rokas Jokubaitis, who repeated the performance record in the Euroleague with 15 points, lowered his head. – Probably all of Lithuania, everyone understands how bad I feel now. We could have minus two and we have minus six. What I can say is a very reckless placement and I got burned again. You need to draw conclusions from this. “

The attack on Žalgiris desperately bounced off Barca’s defensive wall as Shar sent his tall man, usually Brandon Davies, to the Žalgiris defender after each barrier. In 5 minutes, Verde and Blanco scored only two points, and both from free throws, and the Barça team missed the route of victory (56:70).

“Žalgiris” suffered the sixth loss in a row, but this time it was different.

Barcelona had a less successful victory this season only in the third round in Valencia, scoring 71 points. Having spent an average of 90 points since the fifth day of the Euroleague, the people of Žalgiris cut their disastrous average of lost points by up to 17 points and made a mistake 24 times against the infinitely talented Barcelona basketball company.

The people of Žalgiris took off with the rich people of the Euroleague and sacrificed more often for the balls that fell to the ground, snatching it from Barca’s hands 17 times, three times more than the previous Euroleague record intercepted this season. And when it was difficult, he showed his character and almost seduced the return of Šarūnas Jasikevičius to Kaunas.

Yes, Barcelona have been playing very poor basketball for the last week. Shar probably would have called this loss of “Žalgiris” an “untapped match of opportunity”. But the people of Žalgiris showed momentum in their game, starting with team spirit and ending with a strengthened defense.

“I can say that the coach hasn’t changed much, but the methodology has changed a bit. During training sessions, we put much more emphasis on defense and we feel like we are drawing conclusions, said R. Jokubaitis. – We work better in training and we look better in defense on the field.

We see fruits, we hope to continue working even harder. We see a series of defeats grow. We are looking forward to the next game and we look forward to victory.

“Žalgiris” lost six times in a row in the Euroleague, but the line of failures is not the same as the line of failures.

Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Barcelona, ​​Olimpia Milan, Zenit St. Petersburg, Maccabi Tel Aviv are rivals, at least four of whom are serious about winning the Euroleague, and two are not just in the playoffs. . At the moment, only one of them, the injured Maccabi, does not fall on the train of the Euroleague playoffs.

“I don’t think we are going to break with such an old Lithuanian core. Clearly, six defeats is not the most pleasant thing. But there are endless games waiting this month, a double week, this is not the time to think here. Sad, really, because the Euroleague is the tournament we focus on the most. And when you fail to win, the dressing room is sad. But we don’t really break down, “said R. Jokubaitis.

“Žalgiris” returns to his backyard league in December, where he can expect to win victories again.

Panathinaikos in Athens (13th) on December 11, Vitoria Baskonia (8) on December 15 and Fenerbahche of Istanbul (12) on December 17 in Kaunas, Bayern in Munich (3). ) on December 23 and ALBA in Berlin (Act XIV) on December 29 are opponents who will show the true face of Grunwald and the value of the conclusions drawn by Martin Schiller.

Regular season	W	L	+/-
1. “Barcelona”	9	2	107
2. Moscow CSKA	9	3	44
3. Miuncheno “Bayern”	8	4	30
4. “Valencia”	7	4	twenty
5. Madrido „Real“	7	5	3. 4
6. Sankt Peterburg “Zenit”	6	3	twenty-one
7. Milano “AX Armani Exchange”	6	4	twenty-one
8. Vitoria TD Systems Baskonia	6	5	71
9. Anadolu Efes from Istanbul	6	5	twenty
10. Piraeus Olympiacos	5	5	-eleven
11. Kaunas “Žalgiris”	5	7	-31
12. Fenerbahche Beko from Istanbul	5	7	-49
Athens “Panathinaikos OPAP”	4	7	-47
14. Berlin ALBA	4	7	-79
15. Tel Avivo „Maccabi Playtika“	4	8	0
16. Belgrade “Red Star mts”	4	8	-28
17. Vilerbano LDLC ASVEL	3	7	-29
18. Chimki, Moscow region	2	9	-94

The strategist of “Žalgiris” enters this section that demands victories with the full confidence of the boss.

Although the most impatient fans of the Verdiblancos have been asking for a new coach for some time, P. Motiejūnas does not lose faith in his innovative coach selection. And not only because M. Schiller’s contract is guaranteed for two seasons, and because of its termination, the club must receive solid compensation when there is no money in the coronavirus fund and the stands of the empty “Žalgiris” arena.

Since the first conversation with M. Schiller, P. Motiejūnas has been the biggest sponsor of this project. And it will remain so until the 38-year-old’s last day of work at “Žalgiris”.

“That support from Paul is unspoken,” Schiller said. – We are developing this project together. We invest in him from every angle to help him succeed and propel the team forward. For her to improve. I can’t really complain about that. “