2024-03-30 18:13:15
One stumble can mess up the plans as it should – the remaining third in the semi-finals will likely avoid the Zalgirian barrier, and the fifth position will not only likely not allow it to be done, but will also force the quarter-final series to begin in the opponents’ territory.
Vilnius “Wolves” (15-8) basketball players are leading in this race, slightly ahead of “7bet-Lietkabelis” from Panevėžys and “Uniclub Casino – Juventus” from Utena (both 13-9). In February and March, the “wolves” lack stability – victories are inevitably replaced by defeats, but Aukštaitija clubs also score points.
Last weekend’s battle for Vilnius closed the regular season series between the capital’s teams, but neutral fans are likely to expect at least three more derbies in the playoffs, where the teams could meet in the semifinals. However, “Wolves” strives not to repeat the mistakes made last year, when they found themselves in an almost identical situation.
“Last year we also tried to save this place to potentially avoid “Žalgiris” in the semi-finals, but you can see what happened when we thought a little ahead, – LKL.lt said Kristupas Žemaitis. – We received a nux from Jonava, who almost won the bronze medals. It was definitely not an overnight success, but a good job.
This year we are looking to see what we will get in the quarter-final barrier. I really hope that semi-final derby would be fun, but first we are looking at the nearest round, and now the nearest opponent is Utena. We are also fighting with them for third place.”
On Saturday, the people of Vilnius will compete for a double point. In the duel with Uteniks, not only victory is at stake, but also mutual superiority, as both teams shared a win at home in the first rounds.
Watch the confrontation between Wolves and Utena in the capital from 17:00. on BTV TV and Go3. Before this meeting on the portal LKL.lt – a conversation with the representative of “Wolves” K. Žemaičius.
– Last weekend you lost against Ryta. It was a close fight for a long time, but at the end the opponents kicked into a higher gear and you failed to do so. Why?
– With “Rytu” you often get a game of sections. Sometimes it is enough for them to have a few minutes of stretch, fast play, three-pointers in a quick attack and they feel the rhythm. Spectators get fired up and catching them then is the same as the wind in the fields. After the match, I watched the video myself, especially the end. We had a 3 point lead with 6 minutes to go and it looked like it was going to be a point to point until the end and ended up losing by 16 points. While watching the video, what I noticed was that it was enough to have a couple of poorer, less organized attacks in the attack, which led to the selection of difficult shots. We missed them and “Rytas” went on a quick attack after that. Foster hit a 3-pointer from the corner and our collapse began. Not good, but we ended up collapsing and losing by a slightly obscene margin. When playing with “Rytu”, we must avoid such dull sections, because they take advantage of them and escape irretrievably.
– Marcus Foster played a great game not only attacking the basket himself (31 points), but also creating opportunities for his teammates (7 rebounds). After his performances, do you have any thoughts on what tactics would help stop this player?
– First of all, this is individual defense. We know he’s one of the best individual players in the entire league. We should control what we can control. For example, closing down his strong right side for breakouts, which we didn’t do at least a few times. We didn’t foul a few times in closeout situations either. At the beginning of the game, he came in with his handy shots, which was followed by step-back shots after the dribble and through the hands at the end of the game. If we count those shots, we will count them, shake hands and congratulate them, they were better that day. If we play with “Ryta” again, we will need to adopt another tactic, maybe double more, take risks on something else, if we are not able to defend ourselves individually. With Foster, the whole league and the whole of Europe is struggling, we are no exception.
– As a rule, after the derby in the capital, there is commotion both in the arena and in the public space. Do you manage to distance yourself from it? Maybe you feel unwelcome in Vilnius while you’re still trying to grow your fan base?
– The fact that we are not very popular with “Ryto” fans is shown by the chants and the fact that we receive little support in the public space. Maybe that’s normal. The fact that we could negate such things with a good game and victories. We don’t do that today, that antagonism or hatred grows even more. We have to prove everything on the pitch. What’s happening on social networks – we all have our accounts, follow, read news and see something. But you don’t get into it too much, you don’t overburden yourself, and you continue to work on the pitch.
– Many neutral fans are probably hoping to see you and “Ryto” face off in the semi-finals. Perhaps you left the arena on Sunday with a similar thought?
– I said before that we wanted to fight for second place, but then we immediately lost to Jonava. I don’t want to throw around any phrases, we are looking at the next match. For now, it’s all up to us. We will try to maintain the third position where we are now. Last year we also tried to save this place to potentially avoid Žalgiris in the semi-finals, but you can see what happened when we thought a little ahead. We received a message from Jonava, who almost won the bronze medals. It was definitely not an overnight success, but a good job. This year we are looking to see what we will get in the quarter-final barrier. I really hope that semi-final derby would be fun, but first we are looking at the nearest round, and now the nearest opponent is Utena. We are also fighting with them for the third place.
– Learning from last year’s history and looking at the sports form of the teams in the playoff zone, you probably can’t expect easy quarterfinal series?
– The competition seems to have increased even more this year. “Rytas” is the least wrong with “Zalgiris”, but from the third to the seventh or eighth place, it seems that anyone can beat anyone. We see how Klaipėda plays with a new coach. Like Utena, even though he’s been on a roll lately, he’s had a good job with this coach and has been playing smart and eye-catching basketball. We know how dangerous Jonava and Virginijus Šeškus are. The same Mažeikia may surprise something, but they play well and are in the fight for the sixth place. It will certainly be very difficult in the quarter-finals, no matter what we get. Up to two wins are played, so there is even less room for mistakes. It will be an interesting finish.
– Your results have been fluctuating lately. With the playoffs approaching, is stability the key thing you’d like to acquire?
– You get twice from Jonava, who had her own problems, had no players, was in a bad series. Like on purpose, they won against us both times and ended those streaks. After that, we quickly beat “7bet-Lietkabelis” by a big margin, but we have a rough match with “Rytu”. Lacks stability. There are gray areas in the match, when we build up an advantage, but quickly squander it, and the opponents run away unscathed. We want to stabilize everything, avoid that and play smart basketball, where we control the progress more than we are dependent on our opponents.
– Last year, when Rimas Kurtinaitis was fired, you didn’t hide that you liked working with him. Although some time has passed since the departure of Kęstutis Kemzura, could you say the same about this specialist?
– I had to work with Kęstuš and in the “windows”, and now we had fuller months together. There are good things to be learned from it. Certain accents in defense, important things have been put together. How to get closer to the defender in pick-and-roll situations, how to close passing lanes. He is a coach with a huge experience. Organization of trainings and the like. I’m glad I got to him, I benefited. I wish him luck wherever his career goes, if he still decides to work as a coach.
– Has the team already refined its identity as Neds Pacevičius wants to create it?
– Everything must start with defense, we emphasize that. As I’ve mentioned before, we use more of a switch defense with Ned, and we have a lot of good bodies, athletic, tall players for that. Especially with Vaid playing first, Jeff second, Tre’shawn third. We can use the defense system that suits us today and has repeatedly helped us break our opponents. We want to run more into a quick attack, look for easy points, even after conceding points. We would like a quick disposal and easier point search, so we would make life easier for ourselves. From a better attack and defense, we want to work harder.
– Artūrs Žagar’s return is approaching, but there will not be much time left until the playoffs. How realistic is it to expect tangible benefits from him in the decisive section?
– Hard to say. He is undergoing rehabilitation, everything looks good, he hits, controls the ball, body plastic is nice, everything is technical. There is time. The plan is to return in mid to late April. If we’re talking about the playoffs, which would start in mid-May, it’s taking him as long as it takes to get into shape. He would give versatility, take the load off me, Vaid, Rasheed, Arn. An extra defenseman in the rotation, especially one like him, would be a big benefit. He tears up the defense, sees the field well. It would be much needed. I really hope he comes back. I know that in that case he would cut those minutes away from me, but I want to achieve something, win something, and Artūras would be the player who would help me do that.
– With his fall in the fall, your role and minutes increased. Perhaps it would be a pity to return those minutes from a selfish perspective?
– For the moment, I just want to achieve something, win, reach the semi-finals, play for medals. It doesn’t matter if the role will be more of a starting role or if I come off the bench. This year I played a lot of those minutes, sometimes with an advance. For this moment, we want the most complete and versatile composition. I want him to come back and make it easier.
– This time you will host Utena’s basketball players at home, against whom you suffered a painful defeat in the second round (68:96). Has that match already evaporated from your mind, or can we still expect more principles from your side against this particular opponent?
– It kind of evaporated, a lot of time has passed. We remember losing by 28 points, which is probably our biggest defeat in Betsafe-LKL history. Those ambitions took hold. They literally pushed us, covered us, ran around us and interested us. Then there was the December hole, now it’s a completely different situation for both teams. With them, the game is about who will offer what physicality and how they will respond to it. You can see the coach’s hand, his work. He demands that kind of play from the players. The Americans press the ball, plow in defense and we have to respond to them in the same way. Then we can expect good luck in the match.
– The Uteniškis have also been making waves lately. What highlights would you highlight in this team’s game?
– Physicality is a trump card, of course. They have a good high-level player at every position. It has both good creators and throwers. There may be centimeters or more bodies missing under the basket, but they make good use of it – both Ivan Vraneš and my friend Šarūnas Beniūšis play well. I’m happy for him. Their main strength is their two linebackers, TJ Starks and Scoochie Smith. They are not lazy to play in defense either. Everything will depend on how we deal with them. Defenders are the main engines in teams these days. I remember Starks from the days of Kėdaini. He plays well one-on-one, has good movement, body. Smith gets a lot of interceptions on defense, as does the entire team. It will be necessary to cherish the ball and go through the pressure, because in the moments before “Rita” we were stuck on that. We’ll have to make it happen with Utena. Then we can hope for success and a positive result.
– When you are fighting for the third place, the results of your closest pursuers also become more and more relevant for you. How often do you have to follow the results of these teams and root for them?
– I watch Betsafe-LKL a lot, regardless of whether our table neighbors are playing. Still interesting – lots of dudes. As for neighboring teams, I follow. As much as I love 7bet-Lietkabel, their schedule is tough at the moment. No offense, but we’d still prefer them to split the points. We will see how the table will be at the end of the season and what the pairs of the quarterfinals will be.
2024-03-30 18:13:15