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Understand instantly
- Žalgiris – Olympiakos
- The neighbors of the table will face each other in Friday’s game: Žalgiris and Olympiakos, as well as Anadolu Efes and Valencia add 11 wins and 9 losses each.
- The four teams share 7-10 places in the Euroleague, where 8 clubs will enter the playoffs. So this duel can go a long way to reach a ticket to the quarterfinals.
- Žalgiris won the first round match in Piraeus 68:67, when in the closing seconds R. Jokubaitis bounced the ball on attack and snatched the victory with a free kick.
COVID-19 touched Kaunas “Žalgiris” again.
So far, the Lithuanian champions have managed to fend off the virus better than most rival teams: only Rokas Jokubaitis had to get COVID-19 in the fall, and several more times the alarm was not confirmed at the Kaunas club.
However, the news about M. Blaževičius came on Wednesday night.
A 19-year-old center forward felt symptoms of a cold and the test confirmed the infection.
The young basketball player appeared in the Euroleague in just four games this season and his contribution was not significant: Marek played only after 2 minutes and scored 1.3 points and 0.8 rebounds, appearing on the field when the fate of the match was decided.
There is little doubt that “Žalgiris” will do well with 11 registered players, how many count before Steve Vasturia and Patricio Garino are treated for injuries.
Eriko Ovčarenko / 15min nuotr./Marekas Blaževičius
But with every positive test, there is anxiety: will the coronavirus chain stop those individual players?
According to the requirements, the members of “Žalgiris” take two tests each before the Euroleague match, so after the first series and the positive test by M.Blaževičius, the whole team was eagerly awaiting the test results from Thursday.
– What is the current situation regarding COVID-19? – Schiller was asked during a press conference Thursday afternoon.
– As we announced yesterday, Marek Blaževičius’s test is positive. It hurts, but what are you going to do. You feel fine even if you have symptoms. He quickly parted ways with the team and the team was checked again today.
We’re waiting for the results, they’ll probably come out late at night.
– Did this respond to the team’s preparation?
– Yes, because we lost Marek in training. We miss it.
For security reasons, we also removed Marius, who was ill before, and Karolis (Lukošiūnas), who had closer contact with Marek. This is for security reasons. We want to be confident and hope the second test will show negative results.
Photo by Rokas Lukoševičius / 15min / Karolis Lukošiūnas
Maybe there are too many security measures, but you don’t want to play risky games, we want the chances to decrease, and if you are already infected, it will be three players instead of four. We want to reduce the risk and take care of the players. A full workout is harder to do, but it already is.
But they will be able to train again as soon as the second test shows negative results.
– How does Marius Grigonis feel, who had left the team for a short time?
– Very well. It was important what the doctors would say, but yesterday he trained, he was fine.
Eriko Ovcharenko / 15min nuotr./Marius Grigonis
– Is there a clearer date in which you expect the return of Steve Vasturia and Patricio Garino?
– There is no exact date, although Steve Vasturia must appear in February. Both men work very hard, they started individual drills on the field, basketball drills are the next step. Patrick is harder to say and we are in no rush.
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