Zdovc frustrated after another loss: 'I feel sad, mad or whatever' / News - Basketnews.com

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After not playing at home for 47 days, Zalgiris Kaunas (3-17) unsuccessfully made their comeback to the Zalgirio arena as the Lithuanian powerhouse lost to Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (10-11) 78-94.

Player of the Game EFF 38 James Nunnally Points 32 Accuracy 12-14 Rebounds 2 Assists 1

After the game, Zalgiris head Jure Zdovc congratulated Maccabi but didn't hide his disappointment.

"We tried and were in the game for three quarters," Zdovc said. "We definitely could have got a bigger difference after the first half. Still, we played too soft, we didn't use fouls to stop them and prevent them from getting into the rhythm, and when they got in the rhythm, they were unstoppable."

"This is a concern for me. We played too conservative in defense like we are scared. We didn't use fouls, and we weren't physical enough. 30 points in the fourth quarter is unacceptable.

It's happening not for the first time. If we want to win, we must play better defense. I believe that lately we played some good defense, but unfortunately, Maccabi have players who can make shots over our players' hands," Zdovc added.

Mantas Kalnietis was still out, while Janis Strelnieks played only 2 minutes before reaggravating his calf injury. Meanwhile, Tai Webster finds a difficult time in the point guard position.

However, Zdovc said that having a slim choice of guards was not the biggest problem.

"We still scored almost 80 points. Janis played only a few minutes, and it looks like he injured the same calf again. Josh Nebo was out, and his athleticism would have been useful. You can see differences in physicality between Maccabi and us, but I don't care.

We played at home, it's a little frustrating because the players who were playing well got injured or contracted Covid. We couldn't practice, but it's not an excuse.

Zalgiris Kaunas / Schedule

Panathinaikos Athens Zalgiris KaunasWed19:00 AX Armani Exchange Milan Zalgiris Kaunas65-58 Zalgiris Kaunas Maccabi Tel Aviv78-94 Zalgiris Kaunas UNIKS KazanFri18:00 Zalgiris Kaunas AX Armani Exchange Milan02-0818:00

We had a good feeling that we could surprise them. We knew that without a coach, they could be unpredictable, but at the end of the day, Nunnally played the game of the season. And it was a difference tonight. He was unstoppable," Zdovc gave a detailed answer.

Asked about Strelnieks' injury, Zdovc didn't sound too optimistic.

"We'll see tomorrow. We prolonged his recovery, and he practiced yesterday. It was not strong practice, but he felt good. We planned to play him 10-15 minutes but unfortunately, what happened, happened," said the Slovenian head coach.

Zdovc was also frustrated with some of the defensive mistakes, especially the one made by Marek Blazevic in the fourth quarter.

"It's not my job to point fingers at players, but in the last second (of the 24-second shot clock), you cannot go against Williams with your hands down and watch him making the shot. It is what we are talking about every day. We watch videos every day, we work on it in practices every day. Hands, closeouts. I feel very sad, mad or whatever," Zdovc concluded.

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