Schiller modestly happy – on the troublesome “Žalgiris” problem and the energy of the fans / News

In the first Euroleague game at home, Kaunas Žalgiris, last season’s leader, Istanbul basketball players “Anadolu Efes”, remains the only one to advance undefeated in the Old Continent tournament.

Martin Schiller was pleased that the students who led almost every game managed to keep control in their hands, and in the fourth quarter, the advantage, which surpassed the 20-point mark, consolidated the work done.

“We are very happy with the victory we have achieved,” Schiller said at the press conference. – The most important thing for us was to start with a difficult game, because “Anadolu Efes” played the first quarter in the first three games with great force. This is what we highlighted the most before this meeting and we are glad to have got off to a good start.

Another important thing was that with the fragile leading advantage after the first half of the match, we would return to the match with confidence. A similar situation was in Belgrade, when the second half could not start strong with a small advantage. We are happy that this time we have fulfilled this aspect ”.

– How did you manage to keep Anadolu Efes at a low level of performance?
– It all starts with the fact that if we defend well, we can attack successfully. I felt that the men were focused on working on defense while defending themselves against Anadolu Efes. picenrole it’s really not easy. They are phenomenal Pikenrolo compliance in the attack, but we completely surrendered. In the second half, we made some adjustments that helped us even more. But I will say yes, it is always easy to play when it comes to throwing. There are no tricks, this is basketball. Hitting everything makes it easier, especially at the beginning of the game, when we feel confident.

– How important was it to eliminate Tibor Pleiss from the match, which is why Bryant Dunston had to face so many opponents (31 minutes)?
– I really do not know. I have a lot of respect for Tibor since I was working in German basketball, I had to coach him for the national team, so I know him very well. Tibor is a very good basketball player with a lot of experience in the Euroleague. Now looking at the game, it seems that eliminating Pleisso helped us, but I can’t say anything else.

– Before the game, stood out the confrontation against Vasilije Micičius, who was successfully stopped. What worked against you?
– Thomas Walkup’s game at first, then Lukas Lekavičius and Rokas Jokubaitis contributed. We wanted Micic to feel the energy of different players against him.

– What is the feeling of overtaking the arena when you see so many fans?
– It was extraordinary. There were “only” 5011 fans, but there were many more. Probably because they were separated by a safe distance. In fact, it looked great, it turned out that the arena is full and much more crowded. The noise they made and the energy they gave off was extraordinary. We talked in the locker room that we have to take advantage of the energy emitted by the fans and we succeeded.

– As for Nigel Hayes, lately he didn’t seem to have much confidence in attacking from distance, but he started very well in this match. How do you try to awaken Nigel’s confidence in his own strength?
– Hayes threw three points in the last game. Accuracy – Hit 2 out of 4 who helped you. What can help you the most is a lot of work on the throws that are created during the game. The most important thing for us is that if the situation calls for a shot, he must attack the basket. Otherwise, in the attack we will lose the advantage. Nigel needs to focus more on his selection than on glitches or glitches.

– What allows you to trust Rokas Jokubaitis in your defense?
– The rock has good physical properties: its body is strong, it is tall and fast. This allows him to defend against the big attackers and gives me confidence that we can exploit him in those matches.