By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
We were ready to start speaking to Sarunas Jasikevicius after the end of the third place game in London, when a towering figure passing by, stopped and started speaking to him in their native language. Yes, it was Arvydas Sabonis who had an advise for Saras: “Ηe told me that in the semifinal after the offensive rebound I had to shoot a hook shot in order to win the game against Real Madrid. I said to him “come on man, I am not Sabonis and I can’t shoot left handed”, you know”.
It was a sad Final Four for Jasikevicius and Barcelona and it was something that he didn’t expected: “We tried to give to our fans, something to cheer about, it’s a pretty sad Final Four for us, but… When we were finishing the Top16 I was thinking in my mind that this was a huge opportunity to win the Euroleague. With the injuries you start adjusting, you see that the team is adapting and I was thinking that we had everything going. Even without Pete, or without Nate, this was a big opportunity, but we are not the team that do good small details and we were punished for that. In the semifinal, a couple of stupid fouls, a couple of lost fast break points hurt us. It was one of the worst losses in my career. We believed we had the game in our hands”.
That’s why he will continue playing, despite the fact that he will not be present in this year’s Eurobasket: “I will continue play at least for one one season. Everybody wants a good end, but most of the times a good end doesn’t happen. If something good happens again in my career, I will take it, there is no question. My future now is the upcoming game in San Sebastian and the golf course. My sanctuary is the golf course”.