LeDay on Game 4: 'Luckily, we have the best coach in European history' / News - Basketnews.com

Zach LeDay thinks the key to winning Game 4 is making small adjustments both before and during the match. After highlighting Zeljko Obradovic's game-to-game mastery, the forward explained that the players need to give their input during the game as well.

Credit: Partizan Mozzart Bet/Dragana Stjepanovic Credit Partizan Mozzart Bet/Dragana Stjepanovic

Game 4 of the EuroLeague playoff series between Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade and Real Madrid comes at a tough time for both the city of Belgrade and the country of Serbia. Despite the tragedy, life moves on both for the team and for Zach LeDay.

Before talking about anything basketball-related, Partizan's forward wanted to send a heartfelt message to the grieving families that lost their loved ones in the tragic school shooting on Wednesday morning.

"The news is crazy. Super sad, my condolences to all the people involved, all the families involved. This is just horrible, especially when it's like that happening," he said. "I'm just praying for all the people affected."

Looking at what's ahead in the playoffs, LeDay remembered Game 3 on Tuesday.

"As far as the game last night, it was a very tricky game," the player told BasketNews.

As soon as he said the words, Kevin Punter shouted, 'Tricky!' while passing through. Just a moment later, Mathias Lessort came in and playfully pushed Zach. All three of the players shared a laugh.

"It's good we can get this guy back, though," LeDay said about Lessort. "He can help us out, but in general, is a very tricky game. We went up early in the game, we were running, and then the game slowed down. So we just have to be better at reading things and reading the zone that they have and attacking it in different ways."

There's no secret to success in Game 4, the forward thinks.

"We just go back to doing what we were doing in the first three games. I mean, there are adjustments in every game, not every game will be the same, especially in the playoffs. And that's the great thing about the playoffs is you get to see the adjustments people make, and you have your coach make adjustments too," he explained.

As any team in the playoff stage, Real Madrid are bound to make adjustments after Game 3. The key to fighting back against it is Zeljko Obradovic, LeDay tells.

"Luckily, we have the best coach, possibly, in European history. We see how he assesses the game and how he looks at the game," the forward said about Obradovic. "We have a really smart team as well, and smart veterans. We just all listen to him and just figure it out, [figure out] different ways to attack, because at the end of the day, they are gonna make adjustments. That's what the playoffs are about. We have to come out and respond to the adjustments they've made."

Even though they didn't have Punter and Lessort on the active roster in Game 3, Partizan started out with an impressive 12-0 early lead and had a 15-point lead in the first quarter. Real Madrid gained their first lead only in the second half.

LeDay is sure that the team has the capability to beat the opponents again.

"We just have to continue with the continuity that we had in the first half, find ways to make adjustments on the fly. As players, we have to see the flow of the game. The coaches can only do so much from the side," he explained. "As players, and we have the veterans to be able to do so, we have to be able to see these things and see little things that we can do to attack them in different ways to exploit our advantages as a team."

Following the school shooting tragedy that took away nine lives, there won't be any music played on the loudspeakers during the game. Respect to the victims will be paid with a minute of silence before the start of Game 4.

Like what we are doing? You can express your gratitude here.