After a dramatic victory, Schiller was calm: “When Marius has the ball at a crucial moment, I feel confident” / News

Nuotr .: Valencia Basket / Miguel Ángel Polo

Nuotr .: Valencia Basket / Miguel Ángel Polo

Nuotr .: Valencia Basket / Miguel Ángel Polo

Nuotr .: Valencia Basket / Miguel Ángel Polo

Nuotr .: Valencia Basket / Miguel Ángel Polo

Kaunas “Žalgiris” survived for the second time in two rounds of the Euroleague in the closing seconds. In the last match against Piraeus Olympiacos, Žalgiris’s team stole the victory and regained it tonight.

In 43 seconds, Žalgiris distributed a 7-point lead, and in the last attack of the Valencian team the worst case occurred, which forced Žalgiris to a point behind by 3 seconds (77:78).

However, team leader Marius Grigonis once again saved his team by hitting two points with a siren and returning a carefully guarded but barely missed 39-minute win: 79:78.

However, after the game, Kaunas strategist Martin Schiller emphasized not adaptation in attack, but adaptation in defense.

“We are very happy with this victory. The main challenge was to catch the defensive rhythm. In the first half we lacked, but then we fixed things and the good work on our side of the field gave us the opportunity to win the game,” said the 38-year-old strategist speaking in the Žalgiris men’s wardrobe.

– Why was it not possible to adequately occupy the defensive positions in the first minutes of the game?
– In the first attacks, the men did everything well according to the tactic, but they did not execute it correctly. We had to change everything, but we couldn’t keep the rivals ahead of us. We defended well, we raised our hands, but we couldn’t get the balls back. Vanja Marinkovičius did not stop. There was a shortage of a small percentage until a good defense was completed, but the men quickly came to conclusions and organized the defense.

– What thoughts have you had during the last 43 seconds of the game?
– Attack after attack. I don’t mean that I thought we had to handle something, it just happens sometimes, we had to react appropriately and find ways to attack. There is no time to think, you have to play attack after attack.

Man of the match

– How can we explain the mistakes made at the end of the game – hasty shooting and hitting the ball with the whistle?
– Of course, we want them to stay and we will do better. But I want to emphasize that Valencia are one of the best attacking teams in the Euroleague and we showed our psychological strength by staying in the game for 40 minutes. Recovering after a difficult start to the game requires a lot of psychological strength. I don’t want to highlight some mistakes we made in the end. Of course, we will talk, correct and learn about them.

– In the sense of attack, “Žalgiris” had two different parts of the match. In the first, the ball moved well, the pitches fell, and in the second, not much. Did the opponents change anything during the long break?
– I had a feeling that in defense, after a long break, the opponents will play with more intensity and will try to take the ball out of our hands. In tense matches, teams naturally slow down and play stickier basketball. That’s what happened today.

– Can you tell us what the plan was in the last attack?
– The plan was to throw the ball into the basket. Either a colon or a colon. We wanted to create the best shot opportunity, the opponents were very well prepared for that, but at the end of the day the players decide the match with their mastery. Marius took the ball and threw another hard shot.

– With what confidence do you look at Grigonis when he has the ball in his hands in the decisive moments?
– When Marius has the ball at a crucial moment, I feel confident. He shows it not just this season, but throughout his career. Marius is not afraid of those moments and I am very confident when he does. It was very important to give Marius a 4 minute break because he had been playing for a long time before that. We replaced him with Rock Jokubaitis, who was also very important. We released Mary at the most important moment when she was a little rested and knew she wanted to do such pitches.

– What was the mood on the bench during the last minute break, when you blew 7 points and 43 points back in 43 seconds? Has any motivational language been spoken on your part?
– There wasn’t. As I mentioned, we played attack after attack, there were 3 seconds left and that’s enough time to throw a good pitch. We were focused on executing the next attack and we saw that the guys were focused.

– We are currently listening to the celebration in the dressing room. What do you think is going on there right now?
– They are happy. This is an important victory. It’s hard to say, but I felt like we were hooked on these games and I felt like we deserved to win them. The men are probably happy to have managed to regain victory in the final seconds.