Ivanovic: 'It's a loss that hurts but I saw some positive things as well' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: BasketNews.lt/D. Lukšta Credit BasketNews.lt/D. Lukšta

Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz suffered a blowout defeat (50-75) at the hands of Olympiacos Piraeus in their 2021-22 EuroLeague premiere.

Player of the Game EFF 16 Moustapha Fall Points 11 Accuracy 5-6 Rebounds 3 Assists 1

At the press conference after the game in the Peace and Friendship Stadium, the visitors’ head coach, Dusko Ivanovic, stressed the Reds’ aggressiveness as the main factor for his team’s performance.

“Olympiacos played better than us tonight. Before the game, we knew how they play and their aggressiveness. That was our big problem. We had 5 turnovers after 5 minutes, and they took advantage of it, taking easy shots and easy options on offense.

This is a loss that hurts, not so much because we lost but because of the way we played. We got into their rhythm. Their defense was good, and our offense was very slow and predictable.”

However, the experienced coach believes that his players showed a competitive spirit in the second half, an element he considers important for Baskonia’s overall improvement in the games to follow:

“The truth is that I saw some positive things also. I liked how we played in the second half. We fought our way back, missed a few easy shots, and turned the ball over. But I saw a team with a good mentality, and for sure, we’re going to be better as time goes by.

This team needs to play good defense and get at least 10-15 points in transition. Tonight, we didn’t get any,” the Montenegrin coach concluded.

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