Simone Pianigiani erupts at a press conference: 'It's not about me' / News - Basketnews.com

Pianigiani went on a long and fiery tirade about the club's current situation and the approach to every game after receiving a question about his reputation and tactics during matches.

Credit: YouTube/Cedevita Olimpija TV Credit YouTube/Cedevita Olimpija TV

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana captured a surprising win over Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in the ABA League on Monday. After the game, the Slovenian team's head coach, Simone Pianigiani, got into a conflict with a journalist during a press conference.

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana / Schedule

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana Veolia Towers Hamburg83-86 London Lions Cedevita Olimpija LjubljanaWed19:30

While answering a question, Pianigiani said that he was unhappy with outsiders telling negative things about the players because he sees how they work every day, adding that they deserved one or two victories in the EuroCup, where they are currently 0-7.

A journalist followed up with a question about Pianigiani's reputation as a veteran and well-known name in the basketball world and why zone defense wasn't tried earlier in the last EuroCup match against Veolia Towers Hamburg, as it was effective in other instances.

First, the Italian coach interrupted the journalist when his reputation was mentioned at the beginning. "What can I do? You want me to score three free throws or make these [shots]? We are without two point guards. What can you say about my reputation? My reputation cannot play," he shouted. "My reputation is to work good and to build the project. I don't have to show my reputation to no one. I'm just [here] to work."

After apologizing for interrupting, Pianigiani listened to the full question and then answered passionately:

You don't have to tell me what to do. I know. When we go down by 20 points, it's because we're losing... The beginning of the third quarter - do you remember? Three three-pointers in the first 60 seconds - poom, poom, poom on the same play. One turnover, one closeout. It was not the problem. The problem was that we were missing [shots], and they were going full-speed. Then when you're down by 20, you cannot recover with a zone because you slow down. You have to recover like we recovered - pushing, pressuring, hitting man-to-man. This is why we recovered, this was the situation.

Free throws this season

74%15,3Points made:15,3Accuracy:73,8%Place in standings:9Record max:18Record min:10Most made FTs:Klemen PrepelicTeamEuroCupStatisticsSchedule

If you watch the game, first half, we missed seven layups, a dunk in the fast-break. Is this what I have to do for my players to score on a dunk? We missed seven free throws. We were down by 6 at halftime, and then they started to be nervous because of these kinds of plays. Today, they knew they couldn't give up, the atmosphere was different, we started scoring, we stayed in the game, and we used zone to stay in the game. But you have to read different games, different teams. If they play big, we can adjust.

I know how they're doing it. And they're small, the German team, they play like Americans - streetball. If you're in the game with physicality, you must do [it as well]. This is what the situation was. You cannot compare. What happened? Partizan played zone when they were down 25 against Igokea? No, they recovered again. It's something that's normal in basketball everywhere. The German team that looked like disaster.. look who was playing - we recovered with [Alexander] Shashkov, with [Gregor] Glas, with Jaka Klobucar on the court. We are in the EuroCup. At this level! You have to know that.

This German team has the same record as Bayern Munich. The same record as Ulm. They beat Bamberg on Sunday. They're fresh, they're young, they're without problems. They have a point guard. We are without two point guards. You can lose game like that. It's not about me. It's about the situation. I know what we have to do, and not because today we won. In this situation, when this has happened, with so many games in a row, you can lose 6-7 games in a row. This is possible.

Today - the same performance. If we miss two times, if they score, maybe we can win by 7-8 points. It's Blazic at some moment, or DJ Stewart plays a solid game. Sometimes he can go for 20 points, sometimes, he can miss. We are working on these to better. We are working on [Luka] Scuka to be better. Today, he scored one time. In the other games, I see him miss open shot, open shot, and we missed him. This guy, we have to give him confidence and keep working. You don't have time to prepare every two days like that.

It's important what they do. It's normal. It's a completely new team without a point guard. Yesterday, I saw an interview with a great coach, my friend Neven Spahija. They lost by 30 points in Milan, and he said they missed some players. They never missed a point guard. We are ok. At this budget, which is 3-4 times of our budget, we go there to play against them without a point guard. For 35 minutes, we were close to winning the game. We say we lost because we missed some players. It's normal. It's the sport now.

How many teams lost by 30 points in the EuroLeague? So it's [Dimtiris] Itoudis' fault that Fenerbahce can sometimes lose by 25-30 points? They have a deep roster, even with injuries. It's normal. We never lose by 30. To Crvena Zvezda, yes, but it was the beginning. I don't know how we'll play the day after tomorrow, but it's not because we didn't prepare for the game.

Tomorrow, we are in London, and we go straight to practice. Two hours. Then, we have a one-hour session before the game. Sometimes players are like that, you have to know. I said I won trophies. It was more than 20 years ago. Before I became a head coach in Siena, I won titles with youth teams, 7 titles in Italy. Maybe I know something? It's not that I did this, and I'm better than Zeljko. Zeljko is number one by far of everybody that was. They lost to Igokea, they lost to us, it's normal, it's sport.

Simone Pianigiani's press conference (answer starts at 20:14):

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