Marcelo NICOLA
BC Lietuvos Rytas Head Coach:

«We played no defense. It’s difficult even to think about winning the game when the opponents score 97 points. We missed 27 points in the second quarter and 32 points in the third quarter. In the first period we were playing defense. There were some mistakes, but we tried to fight and do our best. But in the second quarter we disappeared as a team. It was really difficult to find our something that works. Man-to-man, zone defense, rotation, nothing works. For sure, our opponents are very talented. They have four Americans who can score. Avtodor is the top scoring team in Eurocup. If we think we will be able to win a game against any team without playing defense, we are wrong. We have to start playing defense right now. The problem is that the players don’t respect our rules when they enter the playing court. When we establish the rules to respect them, everybody have to do it. We organize the defense in one way. If somebody doesn’t follow the rules, it could cause the clear path to the basket or open shots by the opponents. To be a team all players need to respect the rules.

There is no lack of discipline within the team. The players have professional and serious attitude, they work hard. But I can’t understand why technically and tactically they don’t respect the rules. If you are not ready to sacrifice for the team, it’s impossible to create a good chemistry. This refers to the whole group. Sometimes we are not able to stop bleeding and we continue bleeding until we die. We have to try winning every game, home and away, both in the Lithuanian league or Eurocup, there is no difference. We are here to win, not only to participate. We need to hurry up starting from the closest game against Neptunas on Saturday, because we don’t have more time. You can win or lose, but you need to fight until the end!».