Jasikevicius feels ashamed of Barca's performance, frustrated by ugly fouls / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: ImagoImages - Scanpix Credit ImagoImages - Scanpix

When you hear Sarunas Jasikevicius from the stands in the packed Audi Dome, you know things are not going well for Barcelona. But nobody could have thought that things would go that bad for the EuroLeague regular season winners in the playoff series against the 8th seeded Bayern Munich.

Player of the Game EFF 24 Nick Weiler-Babb Points 12 Accuracy 3-7 Rebounds 8 Assists 4

The physicality, the usage of smart fouls, lack of ball movement, and determination to finish the series were far from Barcelona's excellent Game 3 presence.

Jasikevicius yelled like an annoying alarm clock on the Audi Dome sidelines, but his players never woke up.

Barcelona finished the night tying its all-time lowest-scoring EuroLeague performance and didn't stand a chance to finish the series in Munich 52-59.

The series were tied 2-2, and the decisive Game 5 will be played in Palau Blaugrana on Tuesday.

"Congratulations to Andrea and Bayern. For the most part of the game, there was one team on the court. To say that I feel ashamed of how I prepared my team is an understatement," Jasikevicius said in the press conference.

"It’s very difficult to understand how this team can change so much in 48 hours. To change from this wonderful basketball-playing team to completely unrecognizable. I already said we’ll have a lot of ups and downs like this with this personnel. We must get through them and find a way to play better basketball," Saras added.

"I thought we were not the same team we were 48 hours ago. Obviously, it didn’t help that a lot of our shots were very open, but we couldn't make it. But the attitude was not good. We were constantly talking with the referees. You can talk with them, but many of us were really struggling. You should have the ability to pull together and help the team somehow instead of looking for excuses. We have four days before the decisive game in Palau. We have to change our mentality," Jasikevicius continued.

Points this season

49%81,4Points made:81,4Accuracy:49,1%Place in standings:3Record max:111Record min:52Best scorer:Nikola MiroticTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

Asked if his team was too confident of finishing the series in Munich, Jasikevicius couldn't answer.

"I can't answer, but we have a bad history closing out games.Saint Petersburg last year. Badalona last year. Tenefire last year. These are all the playoff series that we played and we spoke about this," Jasikevicius told.

"We never closed out the game on the road. More than that, the other team outhustled us. Wanted more. This is what happened today. We didn’t learn. I’m not doing my job if my team is not responding to this. This is 100% obvious," he added.

But asked if there's anybody in the locker room who could help him not to witness such mental ups and downs throughout the season, Jasikevicius talked about everybody being honest to each other.

"In the last two months, the main idea of my speech was always about not lying to each other," Jasikevicius continued. "We're this type of team. We're very talented. When we're in the right frame of mind, we can beat anybody in Europe. This is for sure. We'll have this type of situation because we've been having this. But let's not lie to one another. This is my speech for the last two months. I accepted that this is that kind of team. Extremely inconsistent. Extremely good. One of the best in Europe, when it's focused in the right frame of mind. But this is what we have to do now."

Jasikevicius downplayed suggestions about Bayern's defensive adjustments they made for Game 4. Barca made only 39% of twos (9/23) and 17% of threes (5/29).

But Barcelona's head coach emphasized the mental aspect that might cost his players a big opportunity to reach the ultimate goal.

"They played as classical defense as they played the whole series. There was a lot less switching. There was a very solid defense. It's a little bit different from what they did in the series, but generally, you're supposed to read the situations easier. I think every coach tries to change things a little bit. But they really played the classical type of defense," Jasikevicius said.

"Obviously, two teams are playing, but I must worry about my team and my team's attitude. I’m with them. Because it’s my team for this season. I only have one team. We're three wins away from the title. And if we don’t understand that it’s an incredible opportunity, then we’re really f*cked up," Saras told.

In the end, Jasikevicius had some words on referees tolerating the physicality level in these series that, in his words, often goes over the limits.

He was complaining about Vladimir Lucic's foul on Kyle Kuric in the second half. But he couldn't tell if Bayern's forward intentionally pushed his shooter in his back without watching the replay.

"I thought a lot of things were happening once again. If you look at the situations, there are a lot of ugly fouls. Not a lot, sorry, but once or twice per game, a lot of ugly fouls have been missed that could injure our players," Jasikevicius kept it real.

"You can go back to Game 1, Game 2, and Game 3, and you will understand it. In some situations, it wasn't even called fouls. Rolands Smits could be out for a while in Game 3. Dante Exum could be out in Game 1. After his amazing dunk, watch the next play. It hasn't been reviewed, and it hasn't been called as a normal foul," Jasikevicius added.

"Okay, it's a playoff basketball. And that's not why we lost today," Barcelona's head coach concluded.

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