Fenerbahçe Beko’s head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius, who defeated Anadolu Efes 79-69 away in the Turkish derby in the 6th week of the Basketball Europa League, said that they won by playing well physically in the second half.
The Lithuanian coach made a statement at the press conference held after the match played at Turkcell Basketball Development Center.
Talking about the importance of winning away, Jasikevicius said, “I congratulate the team, our players and our fans. We are trying to adapt our new players to our team. We should be happy with this win in this part of the season. We were not good physically. Our performance in the first half was not good. We did not deserve to be ahead. We were better physically in the second half. We played a better game in the part where we used our short players.” he said.
Stating that they need to be better physically, Sarunas Jasikevicius said, “There were things we did better in this regard today. Melli, Tarık and Colson played a good game. The important thing is mentality. It is important to win even in an ‘ugly’ way. Many teams experience this during the season. This is not Fenerbahçe basketball. We are trying to find a way to win first. Good basketball will come later.” he said.
Stating that Wade Baldwin did a very good job in the match, Jasikevicius said, “He controls his emotions very well, especially. I saw that he was able to take the team under his wing and control it in the fourth quarter. He managed the team very well. We get a lot from him and we will continue to expect more.” made his assessment.