2024-04-18 14:34:00
For specialist from Italy A. Trinchieri, it was the first stumble in the local championships.
In addition, in the regular season, “Neptūnas” became the only team to win a series against the Kaunas club (2:1).
“Neptūnas” kept the fifth position in the tournament table and beat the Utena club with victories, which will play the meeting of this round only on the weekend.
226 points scored by both teams is the most in this Betsafe-LKL season.
“I want to congratulate the entire “Neptunos” organization on this fun victory. I want to say that we were ready for this game and I am happy with the contribution of each player to the victory.
Even those who didn’t play, because we were united, we encouraged each other to achieve that victory. Today, our three veterans were on the field for 40 minutes each – impressive, I’d say.
We knew that “Žalgiris” was playing after the end of the Euroleague matches and it was difficult to reorient to the domestic championship. But still we deserved to win. Why are our three veterans playing so powerfully?
I love them very much. This is unique – they themselves really want to win,” said Georgios Vovoras, coach of Neptunos.
“Congratulations to Neptune.” They fought very mightily. In the end they won. “We didn’t play the way we wanted,” Žalgiris coach Andrea Trinchieri testified after his first loss in the LKL championship. – We managed to come back, but at a crucial moment at the end of overtime, we made mistakes that prevented us from winning.
I came to Lithuania, the country of basketball, knowing that I know how to recognize acting. But I was very surprised by such whistles and such refereeing in a country where the best players play and are supported by some of the best fans.
In this match we got 38 fouls and a technical foul when the player was talking to me. He is a good guy and I am surprised when such decisions are made. This is unexpected. It was a surprise.
We felt the same way after the match with Panevėžys “Lietkabel”, when Edmund Sumneris also received an unsportsmanlike foul. We are a young team and we don’t know how to play. But when the other team’s players are falling like snipers, it’s hard to win.
But this match doesn’t change much – we will come back even better prepared for the next match.”
– Five players of your team ended the match earlier due to exceeding the limit of fouls. Did you have such a fact in your career that five basketball players received so many penalties and sat on the bench?
– I don’t remember such an event in my career. But I will remember this event for a long time.
– What tactics should have been used in this duel?
– It is difficult to have tactics when the team is not playing one hundred percent. We played very soft in the third quarter. But here’s a game where we weren’t mentally prepared to play. Neptune is playing well at the moment and this match will be a good lesson for us.
2024-04-18 14:34:00