Jasikevicius after a loss in ACB: 'Mirotic news is the best of this week' / News - Basketnews.com

Sarunas Jasikevicius admitted that having a game in 48 hours after a tough loss will be beneficial for the players.

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

FC Barcelona suffered their second loss in the Spanish Liga Endesa yesterday, falling against Joventut Badalona. Even though Sarunas Jasikevicius' team held a 10-point lead in the third quarter, the home team turned the game around and took the victory.

Player of the Game EFF 18 Pau Ribas Points 16 Accuracy 5-8 Rebounds 3 Assists 3

Talking after the match, Jasikevicius emphasized the lack of killer instinct from his team again.

"I think that in important games like derbies you have to kill," Saras told. "If you don't kill a match, the opponent comes back and does a lot of damage to you as they did [today]."

Asked whether the schedule can be a cause for the loss, the Lithuanian coach strictly denied it.

"Tiredness can never be an excuse," the specialist said. "We played in Istanbul on Thursday, we traveled very well on a free day on Friday, [we had] a very short training session on Saturday, and a game on Sunday afternoon. We are going to find much worse schedules than this one throughout the season."

After suffering a serious Achilles injury during the summer, Barcelona's superstar forward Nikola Mirotic has been sidelined throughout the start of the season. However, the Montenegrin player has already been seen practicing with the team last week in a video posted by the club itself.

After a week where Barca lost two games in four days, the Lithuanian coach admitted that it's good having the team's leader around again.

"Perhaps the news of Nikola Mirotic [coming back] is the best of this week. It has not been a good week for us, and we have to recover," Jasikevicius told. "For the competitors that I think we have in the locker room, I think it's best to play in 48 hours."

"I was a player, and when you lose, and you don't do it well, the best thing is to have a game in 48 hours to show how good you are," he explained. "We know that we play for Barca, and these double-header weeks are going to happen to us. We have a very good and very deep squad, and we have to face it only thinking about the game on Tuesday."

After consecutive losses to Anadolu Efes Istanbul in the EuroLeague and Joventut Badalona in the ACB, Barca will now be looking to bounce back during the EuroLeague double week against Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade and Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz with both matches being played at home in Palau Blaugrana.

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