Giedrius Žibėnas: “I will owe pizza to basketball players” / News

Photo: BNS

Photo: BNS

Photo: BNS

Photo: BNS

Photo: BNS

Giedrius Žibėnas made his debut as Vilnius “Rytas” head coach in the win against Klaipėda “Neptūnas”, and after the match the specialist thanked his students.

The victory was not easy, already at the beginning of the match, Martynas Echodas suffered an ankle injury, who could no longer continue the match, and in the second half of the match, Neptūnas had reduced the difference by 20 points to 6 points. However, “Rytas” triumphed in 95:83.

“We shouldn’t talk about the game, but about the players, their excitement. We would like to dedicate the victory to Mindaugas Girdžiūnas, who is celebrating his birthday today. At the start of the game, we were again, as always, unlucky with Martin Echod, and The whole plan changed very quickly. The reaction from the players was incredible, all the credit goes to the players. It seems I owe them pizza.

I want to highlight the defense, dedication and discipline of the defenders. Surely nobody beat us easily. More than in defense, I liked the reaction of the players to the situation. Men reacted to what happened a few days ago. Also to Echod trauma. The talk here would not be about tactics, but about what was broadcast from inside the men in the square, ”Žibėnas said at the post-victory press conference.

The coach comments after the game:

– Coaches, has the emotion of the team changed after the changes?
– There is always a load of emotions when there is a change of coach, and our job is to maintain them and make them a habit. We are a living team. We do not rule out how many players we would have, we would go, we would fight and we would fight with everyone. We will not give anything to anyone. The players proved it today. On a ten point system, I would rate the players’ energy at eleven. I am proud of the players. I don’t know what we could have lost before today.

Man of the match

– What is the situation with the injured Martynas Echodas?
– He appears to have pinched his ankle. We’ll investigate tomorrow when the swelling subsides a bit.

– You and the team trained emotionally, in the last quarter you also received a technical foul. What happened after?
– I just emphasized to the judge that there was a violation of 3 judges. But I did not emphasize that. I wanted the players to bring excitement to the field, maybe they made it somewhere, they didn’t. Now we have to rest and prepare for the next game because it will not be easy again.

– Why did Ryan Broatright play less time among the players?
– We have Augustus and Dave. All is well with Boatright. We had bad situations on defense somewhere, and August played amazingly today. Therefore, when Neptune played lure and he could reach us, he didn’t want to use Ryan, who in attack really suited us, he played together, he was like a fist. We’re not really complaining about that, just August played fantastic on defense today and Dovis on offense.

– Gustas Maskoliūnas, who had previously worked on the reserve team, was among the coaches. Did you join the coaching staff in the morning?
– It was in our system and we added it. He’s with us for the third day and he’s already helping, especially with video analytics. Fun coach, every new thought and idea is fun.

Match summary: