Jankūnas, who has earned the merits of Milaknis triples: I play in my speed zone as fast as possible

“Žalgiris”, who crushed the champions of Spain, dominated the basket, won the fight by rebounding 37:23, and even more was able to overwhelm opponents with long shots: on Tuesday, 18 of the team’s 26 triples from Kaunas reached the goal.

“Before the game, we emphasize that the strength of the opponents is the fight for the balls and a quick attack. We won the fight for the balls, it was a great step towards victory. Clearly, it’s a lot easier to play when our pitchers hit 3s. It is much easier to attack because the opponents have to catch snipers, thus opening holes in their defense. I’m glad I won. We started the double week on a good note and focused on keeping watching. On Wednesday we will train a little and play again, ”said P. Jankūnas at the press conference.

The “Žalgiris” captain spent 22 minutes on the parquet on Tuesday, this is his record this season in the Euroleague. The veteran also set season records for performance, rebounding and utility: 7 points, 6 rebounds and 15 utility points on the count of 36 forwards.

“Thank God, I don’t have any physical problems at the moment and I am very happy about that. I feel very good physically. I really play in my speed zone as fast as possible and I feel great on the pitch, ”said P. Jankūnas, who also scored the first three-point season of the season in this match.

Artūras Milaknis joked that even the betting agencies were offering a bet that Jankūnas would score three points after the New Year. I thought so too, but I threw it away earlier. Of course, there were no bets, just that. There is as it is, everything is fine. 3s are not my strength, therefore I do not survive and I have no problem with 3s thrown, ”said P. Jankūnas.

The long throws of A. Milaknis himself are much more important to the captain. The main sniper of “Žalgiris” threw 5 points out of three of 7 to the basket of “Baskonia”, and P. Jankūnas, who built several important barriers for the joint club, was not surprised by it: according to him, Milas is one of the best Euroleague snipers of all time.

“Artūras’s 3s are very important, we joked in the locker room that I contributed more to those 3s. He really owes me a certain drink. Arthur really needed a good game to shoot those pitches. I don’t see any problem in the fact that he didn’t shoot those shots in some games because we know how Arthur throws, what sniper level he is.

There is no need to panic. I wish we would always shoot like this, but we are not robots and we cannot shoot five 3-pointers every day, especially in the Euroleague, when everyone knows him, he is one of the best EuroLeague pitchers of all time. Everyone pays a lot of attention to him, believe me, it is not easy for him to play, ”said P. Jankūnas.

The captain also praised Nigel Hayes and Augustinas Rubitas, who competed with him in the high five of “Žalgiris”.

“When Nigel, Augustine and I are on the floor at the same time, we are very big, we control the board well in defense and attack as well. This is something very important. The other thing is, even though Nigel is a fourth-place player, he’s so athletic and talented that he can defend in third place as well. He creates a lot of problems in the light edge forward position, perhaps even more than in the heavy one, because in this position he is stronger against all of his opponents.

So five of us are big, so we bounce the balls, and when we bounce the balls, we have fast Luke and Rock, who run forward, the basketball gets faster. After a good defense, basketball is always easier, ”said P. Jankūnas, who also evaluated the progress of Marek Blaževičius, who ran for the second time on the floor in the Euroleague match.

“I think Marek is really improving a lot. I think he came to ‘Žalgiris’ and made a very good decision. He can’t play now, which can be sad, but let’s understand what experience and physical data the other attackers in our midst are with. Marek is a smart kid, he works every day, he works more with the coaches, he’s stubborn and that’s the most important thing.

I think his physical qualities are improving and all elements of basketball are improving. You need to be patient, work even harder, and as much time as you have, that time is used productively. That time has to increase because the schedule at the beginning is terrible, with many matches in the Euroleague and LKL, so Marek will surely have many minutes. He just has to keep doing what he’s doing and everything will be fine, ”said the Euroleague record holder.

Speaking about the reasons for the two-win series of “Žalgiris”, P. Jankūnas emphasized that the defense had improved, which was determined by the conversation. The tallest one thanked the clubs for their attitude and also praised the entire club for their reaction to a series of six losses in the Euroleague.

“Defense is about one hundred percent work and one hundred percent understanding of where something needs to be and what needs to change. We’ve been talking a lot on defense over the last few weeks, and that talk, which the coach emphasizes, makes it makes a lot easier. You may be the best defender, the five best defenders on the team, but if you don’t talk, there will be a lot of mistakes. And if you talk, give information up front, your teammate prepares for some action and things will they get a lot easier.

Sure, a new coach is a new defense, it takes time to understand that, but we have finally realized that speaking in defense helps us and makes it easier for us. When we had that series of bad games, everyone realized that we would not win with an attack, the attack works, but we lacked defense. We all talk about not making mistakes. There will always be mistakes, but there should be no mistakes such that someone does not speak and easily misses an opponent. We cannot give opponents anything for nothing, ”taught P. Jankūnas.

“It is commendable that the club has responded and taken some action that has really paid off. Of course, we also understand that nobody wants a series of five to six losses. The work done and the reluctance to lose pushed me forward: no one wants to feel bad after a match. Once he’s at the bottom, he realizes that he needs to defend himself and speak up and give up on the transfer.

And team play has to be: we are not some kind of individualistic team that will win the game thanks to the effort of one player or another. We have to play a team game, defend aggressively and strongly, and in attack we have players who can shoot. The improvement of the game means that we now have a series of two victories and we look to the future, “added the captain.

Žalgiris will play the next Euroleague game on Thursday, when they host Fenerbahche Istanbul at home.