BarcelonaAlthough the final results will influence their decision, Barca intend to renew Sarunas Jasikevicius. The Lithuanian coach’s tie will be automatically extended if the team wins the Euroleague, but if not, his continuation is not ruled out. At this point, the club’s intention is to extend Saras’ time on the bench.
Barça postponed the decision on Jasikevicius until the end of the season, when it will also be clearer what the financial cut of the section should be. “We stayed to talk at the end of the season,” the coach just said.
The Saras formula experienced its most delicate moment after the elimination of the Copa del Rey. After the disappointments of La Liga, the Euroleague and the Super Cup, the Cup is the fourth title in a row that has eluded a team built to fill the showcases of the club’s museum. All eyes were on the Lithuanian. The coach, who changed the mood of the culer section, received most of the criticism. No one doubted his tactical knowledge, because his mind is privileged to read basketball, but the management of the group did not have the same consensus.
Last summer, Barça studied the possibility of including a figure to act as a bridge between Saras and the dressing room, a kind of Manel Estiarte adapted to the characteristics of basketball. The coach made self-criticism and tried to adjust his way of doing things, reducing the public booing and modifying the planning with the aim of the team reaching the second stage of the season well. The management of Cory Higgins and Nikola Mirotic, two key players coming off injury, was done very cautiously.
Barça secures the ticket to fight for the Euroleague title (74-88)
Barça did not hesitate against a decaffeinated Panathinaikos (74-88) and secured, with four games to go before the end of the regular season, qualification for the quarter-finals of the Euroleague. The next objective will be to seal the track factor in favor in the qualifiers for the title. Dominance in the rebound was decisive in an Oaka less aggressive than other times.
Nikola Mirotic scored 26 points in just 26 minutes, but Mike Tobey was the star of the victory. The American pivot added 16 points with 4/6 triples. In addition, Tomás Satoransky was one step away from a triple double thanks to 8 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists.
“We achieved the first goal of the season, but we have to fight for more ambitious challenges”, analyzed Sarunas Jasikevicius. The Lithuanian coach brought back Cory Higgins on an afternoon in which he ruled out Oriol Paulí, Sergi Martínez, who stayed at Barcelona, and James Nnaji.
Despite the absence of important players such as Dwayne Bacon and Mateusz Ponitka, Panathinaikos opened the game with more concentration. The Greek team took advantage of the mobility of Georgios Papagiannis and Barça’s poor outside shooting to build a difference of eleven points (23-12). The visitors’ reaction did not come until the second quarter. Two were the levers that drove the culer group. The first, defensive improvement. The second, Mike Tobey’s performance. The 11 points of the North American pivot turned the stage (36-43).
Mirotic scored 10 points in just two minutes and Barça started to win against a rival that was getting better and better (39-53). The turnovers were one of the few problems of a visiting side who displayed a very solid game to ensure their presence among the top eight teams in the competition. The final reaction of Panathinaikos served to adjust the score (60-65), but the victory was not in danger.
“We have bigger goals, but to qualify for the play-off it was one of our priorities,” Mirotic summed up.