Barça’s coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius, described Wednesday’s defeat in the Euroleague semifinal against Real Madrid as “disappointing” (83-86) and pointed to the lack of defensive effort of his players as the main reason for the defeat. “Scoring 83 points is enough to win with the defense we normally do. Real Madrid gave us 86 points, and 52 in the second half, that’s unacceptable,” said the Lithuanian coach from the press room at the Stark Arena in Belgrade.
Jasikevicius explained that, despite going into the break with an eleven-point lead (45-34), he warned his players that “he wasn’t happy at all” with what he was seeing: “I have tried to convince my players that we were not doing well. Madrid had missed many open shots and taps on the offensive rebound. In the second half we continued the same and Madrid began to score.”
“I missed more sacrifice and professionalism. It is a big disappointment for us. I think we’re a better team, but we’re not going to play in the final”, summed up the Barça coach. For the Lithuanian, the third quarter was decisive: “You had to make more sacrifices, above all not giving away fouls. In the third quarter we have given them everything: the low post, we haven’t made fouls despite having five players who could do it and we haven’t been able to stop some counterattacks”.
“It’s a very difficult night for the fans and for us. This has happened to us many times, this is how this team is. A team with talent, but that does not know how to kill rivals or series. It is very difficult for me to accept. Being so close to playing another final, getting 52 points is not serious”, insisted the Lithuanian coach. Asked if it was the hardest defeat since he took over the Barça bench, Jasikevicius doubted: “It could be. Also last year we lost the final and it was a very hard defeat. Our mood has to be bad and I hope it is, this has to hurt a lot. I’m a little tired of always saying the same thing“.
Even so, Barça were able to come back in the last quarter, but in the opinion of their coach they did not make good decisions: “These games are decided by details. We had the ability to come back ten points in the last quarter and have the chance to win, but We didn’t handle the situation properly.” Finally, Jasikevicius called on his team to focus on the last title of the season, the Endesa League: “We have to get out of here. Go to sleep and get up. It’s a very difficult defeat. Everyone has to look in the mirror, there are no formulas. There is an important title to play.”
