By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Zalgiris Kaunas lost the first quarter against AX Armani Exchange Milan 23-7 and it was one of the reasons for the loss. Coach Sarunas Jasikevicius noted after the game that it was due to the difference in experience:
“We started the game unacceptably for this type of situation, exactly what I was afraid of coming from a young team that changed many players. They don’t understand the away EuroLeague game situation and when we got back in the game, little thing decided the game when Milano was more experienced”, he said.
Jasikevicius also wasn’t satisfied with this squad’s response to the game’s physicality early on: “The first quarter cost us the game. Walkup took advantage of the situations we tried to explain, the advantages we had as a team against Milan. He understands the system a little bit better than the rest. He had a great second half but was very poor in the first half. We started to play a little bit more physical. I believe that, in the first quarter, Milan dominated us physically. It was looking like men playing against the boys a little bit. When we started to not simply play basketball but also competing as men, we started to look much better.”