By Antonis Stroggylakis / info@eurohoops.net
Following the EuroLeague loss of his team at Olympiacos Piraeus, Zalgiris Kaunas coach Andrea Trinchieri commented on how easily Reds’ star forward Sasha Vezenkov wins fouls to go to the line.
“Nobody wants to play Olympiacos. They are long and big, and they’ve had a system for years. Vezenkov is back, he starts the game with 10 free throws. We don’t know how, he looks at the referees, two free throws, like this. Then, he looks to the other side, the other two free throws. And it’s very difficult because when they are like this, he goes to the line. Again, 43 free throws.”
Vezenkov shot 11 out of 13 free throws against Zalgiris en route to finishing with 17 points, along with 11 rebounds. Four of his free throws were after intentional fouls that the Lithuanian team made to stop the clock in the last minute.
“Olympiacos is by far one of the best teams,” Trinchieri added. “And they know it. They are playing like a team that wants to win because they are very physical.”
“Even [Evan Fournier] Fournier—you’d think he’d need adaptation coming from the NBA, but no. Maybe he’s not scoring, but he uses his body very well. They’re good,” Trinchieri also mentioned on the former NBAer. The French star of Olympiacos had 15 points and five rebounds in the second EuroLeague game of his career.
Speaking about Zalgiris, he was asked how he compares the fact that his team had its first assist against Olympiacos after 16 minutes of play.
“I should find a bridge and suicide after what you said”, admitted Trinkieri adding: “EuroLeague is a very tough competition, especially for young players or those who have never played in this league. Everything is big, fast, very physical. Sometimes, players become very anxious. They need a period of adaptation. Everything you said is very true, but we were down by two, and having all the momentum for us means we have something. We have to work on having a little more creation. This is something that is a priority, but we are playing, we are competing.“