CSKA vs. Zalgiris Kaunas: 68-74 (-6)
Ettore Messina, CSKA head coach:
Congratulations to Zalgiris – they played hard, they fought and showed togetherness. From the other side, it is obvious that we played with bad attitude towards the game and ourselves. We can make some conclusions about our team after six months of our work together. Two weeks ago, when we had several players injured, the team made huge effort to build the team chemistry and we fought we are just one step away from reaching our goal. But now when the problems are gone we look relaxed, we play individually, we forget to defend. Now we just can’t play over the limits set by ourselves. The team doesn’t have mental toughness. We are trying to change the situation but I can’t guarantee we will be able to do that. I did not use the time-outs in the last quarter because I saw that the players are busy with pointing fingers, trying to find someone to blame instead of looking for the solution to improve the situation. I was sure I will not be heard. This loss can be used as educational one. But we need to show the desire to learn and to change our attitude.
