By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Pini Gershon once again had one or two memorable quotes up his sleeve during the a press conference that took place in Kaunas, in light of the partnership between the Lithuanian and Israeli Basketball Federation ahead of the Eurobasket 2017.
Since Maccabi Tel Aviv had recently fired Erez Edelstein, Gershon informed the local press that: “Maccabi will leave here with Jasikevicius or Kazlauskas”, as reported by 15Min.Lt. He joked, of course. Or maybe he didn’t. Who knows with Pini…
The Israeli coach that led Maccabi to the back to back Euroleague titles of 2004/2005 took his mind back to the highly memorable 2004 Top 16 game of the “Yellows” against Zalgiris Kaunas that decided which of those teams would get the ticket to the Final Four. “If Giedrius Gustas didn’t miss these two free throws back in that game, now I might have lived in a tent”, he said.
With the score 91 – 94 for Zalgiris and two seconds left in said game, Gustas went 0/2 from the line and then Derrick Sharp manage to bank one of the most biggest three-pointers ever in European basketball to force an overtime. Maccabi ultimately got the win and the rest was history.
Gershon praised Sarunas Jasikevicius who played for him in the Israelis back then. “I would like to thank Saras. I won the Euroleague twice with him. He was an amazing player. One of the best I have ever coached. I adore him. I hope he loves me back. He is probably the only player who kissed me on the lips. But without a tongue. When he was still playing I said that he would be a good coach.”
“Honestly, Saras did the opposite of what I told him to do. Zeljko Obradovic (who coached Jasikevicius in Panathinaikos from 2007 to 2010 and then 2011-2012) would hit him for this”, he added.