Jasikevicius explains decision to leave Kaunas early, names F4 lessons / News - Basketnews.com

Jasikevicius said that it was a team decision to leave Kaunas before the final as the squad wanted to forget the losses. There aren't many new lessons to learn after so many Final Fours, Saras admitted, but explained that every single loss has to be a lesson.

Credit: Rokas Snarskis Credit Rokas Snarskis

FC Barcelona lost the third-place game against AS Monaco and will leave the EuroLeague Final Four empty. The team will not witness the final game as well.

News came out before the third-place game that Barca will fly out of Kaunas right after the first game on the Sunday schedule instead of leaving at night as it was previously planned.

Asked about it in the post-game press conference, head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius said that it wasn't a decision he personally made.

"Everybody wants to go home. Everybody wants to forget about this, it's a simple decision," the Lithuanian coach said.

Saras admitted that pressure played a big part in why Barca failed to achieve a single win during the weekend.

"These games have their own specific. A lot of nerves and pressure. We didn't find a way to deal with it in the best way possible," he said. "We came in good shape. As players, you need to find better ways to deal with pressure. As a coach, you have to find a better way to calm them down."

It's Saras' fourth EuroLeague Final Four as a coach. If you add his experience as a player, it's already his tenth. Jasikevicius is sure that there aren't that many things that are new. As such, finding new lessons to learn from the losses is a tough job.

"It was more or less obvious that nerves would play a big part and it would be tough to control everything. We came into the Final Four more or less certain about ourselves, we had a lot of players over 30 years of age, players with a lot of experience," Saras explained.

"Lessons? It's tough to say. We have a competent staff, we talk a lot, we'll come out with something at the end of it. Every single loss has to be a huge lesson," he concluded.

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