Saras hints lack of killer instinct, evaluates Mirotic's return after ACB loss / News - Basketnews.com

Sarunas Jasikevicius misses aggressiveness from his squad: "The problem with our team is that we can't go out and play, we have to go out and kill."

Credit: Tolga Adanali/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Tolga Adanali/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

FC Barcelona suffered their third ACB league defeat of the season, losing against Monbus Obradoiro in a two-point game (76-74), which was decided by a crucial 2+1 play by Phil Scrubb. Nikola Mirotic had the chance to force overtime, but he could not connect his last shot.

Player of the Game EFF 19 Thomas Scrubb Points 13 Accuracy 5-9 Rebounds 7 Assists 2

In the post-game conference, coach Sarunas Jasikevicius pointed out the lack of desire and killer instinct his players showed during the game, especially in the first half.

"The problem with our team is that we can't go out and play, we have to go out and kill. There is a huge difference between going out to play basketball and going out to kill the other team," stated Saras.

"I know it's not easy when you play 90 games in a season... but it can't be an excuse," he added.

The Lithuanian mastermind also recognized that it's always difficult to win in the ACB league.

"All ACB games are difficult, especially away. Clearly, we haven't made the best decisions. Looking at the statistics, we have failed a lot. In this league anyone can beat you," he explained.

Meanwhile, Nikola Mirotic played his first domestic game of the season following his Achilles tendon injury. The Spanish-Montenegrin power forward scored 14 points in just 21 minutes of action. On Thursday, he led Barca in the victorious EuroLeague effort in Berlin where he dropped 19 points.

Jasikevicius could not hide his satisfaction with how Mirotic performed in his first two games of the 2022-23 season, but he reminded Mirotic is still in a particular pre-season stage.

"Nikola has had a few practices with the team. He is in the preseason until mid-January. We are not going to rush with him. He has to follow his plan. The worst thing we can do is look at Mirotic to see if he can fix things for us. Though, he has played two spectacular games," Saras concluded.

Barca shares 4th-5th places in the domestic league with 7 wins and 3 losses.

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