Jasikevicius questions the referees' criteria after Barcelona's loss to Real Madrid / News - Basketnews.com

Sarunas Jasikevicius included some comments on the referees in his postgame remarks following Barcelona's loss to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final.

Credit: ZUMAPRESS.com-SCANPIX Credit ZUMAPRESS.com-SCANPIX

FC Barcelona were up by 12 in the second quarter, but eventually lost once again to Real Madrid. After last year's EuroLeague Final Four semifinal and the Spanish league finals, Barca suffered another blow by their main rivals, this time in the domestic Super Cup title game (83-89).

The contest was decided in overtime, where Walter Tavares made some big plays, including a block on Sertac Sanli. However, Sarunas Jasikevicius had something to sa about the way the referees chose to officiate the game.

"Finals are decided by many factors and one of them is not giving away free fouls," the Lithuanian coach said in the postgame presser.

Jasikevicius complained that his players have "made some unnecessary fouls" and noted that their opponents "had six fouls in three quarters, a very big difference" that leads him to question "the criteria for calling fouls."

"This needs to be talked about," he stressed.

Jasikevicius assured that "so many free throws in extra time are very punishing." However, he also congratulated Real Madrid on the victory, as well as on doing "a great job and fighting a lot" until the "last quarter, where the game could have been won by either side."

After dominating in the first half, Barcelona allowed Madrid to go off on a 0-15 run which, according to Saras, changed the game's dynamics because factors such as the fouls of his interior players condition a team's defense.

"We received too much punishment," he explained.

Sarunas Jasikevicius isn't worried about Nikola Mirotic's absence at the start of the season because "the season lasts ten months and you can't build a team based on a single player."

So, "the idea is now to have more international players," he thinks, because "they are the fittest ones, but there will have to be a lot of rotation".

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