At the end of the match, Ponsarnau asked for a minute of rest: “I did it because I respect Žalgiris a lot” / News

The Valencia team became the first Euroleague team to defeat Kaunas “Žalgiris”, and head coach Jaume Ponsarnau after the victory emphasized improved defense, 3-pointers and a solid front row performance.

“Žalgiris” played at a very high level in the first half, especially in the first half, Ponsarnau said after the match. – They played with confidence, high efficiency, especially at the three-point line. But we left all that behind. We knew we hadn’t played well enough on defense and we realized that we had to make a difference.

In the second half, we discovered our attack. In modern basketball, triples are very important and we throw them in a very high percentage ”.

After the victory, the Valencia strategist also drew attention to the importance of his front-line players, highlighting Nikolai Kaliničius, Derrick Williams and Bojan Dubljevičius.

“It just came to our attention then. Dubljevičius was also important. We know that one of our main weapons is the game of shooting the basket. Nikola (Kaliničius), Derrick (Williams), Dubljevičius and even Fernando San Emeterio excel in this regard.

We started the season with a poor expansion of the field, but today, after a week of training, we showed a much better result, ”said the strategist.

Ponsarnau called for a minute of rest at the end of the game, which caused discontent throughout the Žalgiris stadium. Still, the specialist argued that each point in the Euroleague is worth its weight in gold.

“I apologized to coach Schiller for the last minute break, but I asked for it because I have great respect for Žalgiris. We are fighting in a tournament where every point is very important. I had two seconds, I tried to use them, but I have great respect. for “Žalgiris” and his coach, “commented Ponsarnau.

Before this meeting, the strategist sounded widely and mentioned that the crowd of thousands at the Žalgiris Arena is an unfair advantage. After the victory, Ponsarnau said that he enjoyed the atmosphere, but did not completely deny his words.

“I am very happy to be in such an atmosphere. This is the best for basketball. Still, I feel responsible for what I said. At home, we cannot play in such an environment, but we live in a difficult situation.

In such a situation, not all decisions are correct, but such a life and we have to adapt. Today we have been able to enjoy this atmosphere, because it makes basketball very beautiful ”, concluded the Valencia strategist.

Match summary: