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Photo: BNS
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Kaunas “Žalgiris” will start the battles of the second round of the Euroleague today, at home at 20.00. will accept the Chimki challenge in the Moscow region. In the first round, the Kaunas players competed admirably and managed to score 10 wins and take sixth place in 17 matches.
Points are earned this season
In an interview with BasketNews.lt, basketball coach Mindaugas Brazys evaluated the first half of the season at Žalgiris, described how Martin Schiller adapted to Euroleague basketball, recounted on Marius Grigonis’ exceptional season and praised residents of Kaunas for his responsible approach to the COVID-19 virus.
Until the end of last season, Mindaugas Brazys worked on the Vilnius Rytas coaching staff, previously he was also on the coaching staff of the Lithuanian national team, and from 2007 to 2013 he served as scout for Kaunas Žalgiris.
This season he talked to Kėdainiai “Nevėžis-Optibet” about the head coach position, but in the end the people of Kėdainiai chose another option.
– Mindaugas, how do you rate the first half of the season at “Žalgiris” in the Euroleague?
– I would like to divide it into three parts. The first: Martin Schiller came up with his ideas, we saw what would be here. At first those ideas were justified, but the rivals quickly fell apart and then started going against “Žalgiris”. The teams began to defeat the “Žalgiris” system and the attack was, and still is, more predictable.
After that was the second part, the downfall of the team. The opponents had already untangled the game, possibly they had stronger opponents, and there were a series of losses.
Now comes the third part. The coach has already changed, he saw that he would not do much with the game system brought from the United States. He began to seek innovations, to return to European basketball, to apply more diverse defense systems. It was a very grateful moment for Steve Vasturia’s injury, as that’s where the third part of the season began. Then the rotation slowed, Nigel Hayes’ play in third place in some places helped a lot. Of course, some of the rivals in the latter part of the season were on the other side of the tournament table. The game improved again, with less turnover and the basketball players adapted to their roles. As he himself mentioned, it is really possible to play with 10 players.
Kaunas Žalgiris / Schedule
Scanpix photo
– Who put the most into the game?
– The most interesting thing was what the coach will bring to the Euroleague from American basketball. As we have seen, but we have also seen that it cannot be trusted alone. Schiller has been very good lately. On the tactical side, the coach has a team with a good two against two players. I mean both tall people and defenders. Joffrey Lauvergne himself can run fast, build barriers, land, he’s athletic, he can catch balls high. “Žalgiris” also has defenders who can perfectly break through, complete attacks, make transfers. You can see that they are well equipped for a two-on-two game so they play that way.
There are not many tactical situations, but the most important thing is that they maintain a fairly good speed, the combinations are well polished. I think they will continue to drive with similar luggage and when it works well it is not easy to defend against them.
– Have you noticed if a lot has changed in the team’s defense compared to the start of the season?
– There are definitely more systems. At first the American “ice” system was used, it was the main one. I’m not saying they don’t exist now, they’re still enforcing them, but as a percentage of what they’re doing next, the ice defenses are slowing down now. The highs rise higher, we see that there is a rather aggressive attempt to perform go out. We can see that there are many parties. Especially now that in the first position “Žalgiris” has Walkup, in the second – Grigonis, and in the third – Hayes. We can see what its height is, so five is very physical, it can change freely. “Žalgiris” can move under the basket, Lauvergne is not the best defender, but at the same time he is not the worst option, he is quite agile. Throughout the season, we see innovations in coaches that pay off.
– Which players are the most important in the defense of “Žalgiris”?
– Yes in general, Nigel is a good defender, Walkup is a very good defender, Marius is a good defender. They have quite a few people who can defend themselves. There were issues with Vasturia, I’m not going to cover anything, and if anyone wants to object, I can also prove it with the video. Vasturia really hampered the defense and the attack is limited. After injuring himself, Žalgiris lost nothing. I’d even say he won because of it. Luke himself – He has a challenge against more physical players, but on the perimeter, when he needs to move with other defenders, he does it quite well and quickly. Rokas Jokubaitis also puts in maximum effort, perhaps as a young player he makes mistakes, but he is not a bad defender either. There are many players defending well individually, and then it is also easier in team defense.
KKF-Scanpix photo
– Were there major changes in attack during the season?
– There really were no big ones. Perhaps a single situation, after a minute of breaks or the start of a match, but the tactical baggage of the combinations, although I do not analyze as strongly as before, but I still see that it is repeated. That tactical baggage will most likely remain, since that’s the coach’s line.
– Do you think that the fact that they did not have a match at LKL for several weekends could have contributed a lot to the “Žalgiris” hot streak?
– We have to talk about the whole organization “Žalgiris”. The great advantage is that during this pandemic a group of responsible people has met, I speak both of the players and of the entire coaching staff and all the support staff that are in the club. Our state is one of the worst in terms of the number of viruses, but the team can only have one case of COVID-19 in so long. There is a great victory in this place, automatically gaining an advantage over other teams. You do sports, you are in a sports rhythm, you are not sick, your health does not deteriorate. You ride and ride, your mechanism works and you gain stability. In other teams we see problems, they have lost half of the team, and those who are healthy, their sports process is no longer normal. In reality, those two weeks turn into months. There is definitely a big advantage of “Žalgiris” here that they have responsible people.
It was also an advantage for Žalgiris that they did not have many matches at LKL in December. We have seen that Martin Schiller LKL was not a fan to save the players, perhaps now they are starting to save each other. At the beginning of the season, he played LKL as he did in the Euroleague. When Rokas Jokubaitis fell, it started a bad section for them, I think they were physically sitting at the time, because there was a huge load on the main players. Especially during the double week of the Euroleague, when you count, you play 4 matches in 8 days, which is a huge burden.
– For you, who has a lot of experience in scouting, does the game “Žalgiris” seem difficult to look at?
– Frankly, in terms of the names and situations they play, I don’t think it’s very difficult for the opponents’ scouts. With Jasikevičius it was different, he hid a lot and now Schiller is more open. But that’s not enough, you still have to defend yourself, and “Žalgiris” completes it all with good speed and quality. It’s not easy to defend yourself even after a good scout.
– Did “Žalgiris” begin to adapt to its competitors during the season?
– That it adapts better is a fact. At first I was faced with the image that they are not looking at their opponent at all but have their own game and show it. To play this way, you must have 30 million. players with budget and head better than competitors. Then maybe you can play like this. But when you’re on a team with a lower budget, you have to see who covers what, who can cover what, who has to play with. In the second half of the first half of the season, they changed that.
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– Marius Grigonis is the obvious leader of Žalgiris (average of 14.9 points). Why do you think opponents don’t usually stop Grigonis?
– There were those who defended themselves in a way that Maris does not like. He did not like the ALBA in Berlin, that aggressive Stepoutaswhen the opponent rises high and aggressively slows him down with the ball. Marius’s strength is when he comes in with the ball. But if his opponents don’t allow it, then the match is troublesome for Marius. He was also very upset with Milan when LeDay, Hines, who are quite tall, agile and physical players, took off. Marius would rather have a shorter player on him, so he has a huge advantage. Marius is not fast enough to overtake opponents, then he uses his height, more strength and breaks. And when you have a taller, moving opponent, Davies or Hines, you can’t get around them one by one. He sees them weird, he doesn’t like it.
Basically the fact that he plays the best of his season. Knowing his character, I am not surprised that he is the player who is not afraid to take the initiative. Surprising on the good side of the blow. It wasn’t in his career before super sniper, and this year shows a very high hit rate. I probably put a lot of work into it. That there is a great step forward is a fact. He is now the team leader and one of the best basketball players in the Euroleague.
I met Grigonis when he was a child, and I worked as a coach at the Arvydas Sabonis basketball school, we went with him to a friendly tournament in Tenerife, his coach was Arūnas Visockas. Grigonis always wanted to be with the ball, he was already tall, but he played with the ball. I don’t see any problem for him and now he’s playing as a player, we can see that even with the ball he can decide a lot. Excellent knowledge of basketball, view of the field, character, without fear of taking risks. It has many good qualities for the athlete and the results come with time.
– Is there a player that Grigon reminds you of in the game?
– The first thing that hit my head was Dejan Bodiroga. Quite tall, he also played with the ball, he did not have exceptional athletic qualities, but he knew how to create situations to attack. That launch also had no track record, but it was right. Marius didn’t have a good pitch either, he improved it, he has a better track record. And now the technique does not seem the most beautiful, but it still works.
– Is Nigel Hayes the second most important basketball player in “Žalgiris”?
– That Marius is the first, probably no one disputes, but I think the second best basketball player on the team is not. In fact, they all function as a team and different basketball players can shoot in different games. I would not agree with that, there are a lot of those second best players.
– Not necessarily second best, but Paulius Jankūnas has also been playing very well lately.
– He seems to look at Jankūnas, he often starts the season pretty bad, but he seems to be saying, “It’s time.” Take your form, hit a peak, and play a good stretch. That is exactly the case now, and we can continue to see it.
– What do you think is the potential of “Žalgiris” this season?
– It’s hard to say, I think the players compete at their own level. I think that in the individual game they will have a lot of problems and will continue to play as a team. I would like them to continue to be overcome by the COVID-19 virus and injuries, which is very important. We see what problems other teams have, with better lineups. I think that will be the point. If they approve of such a match, they can really qualify for the Euroleague quarterfinals.
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