By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce BEKO was the best team of the regular season and in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs against the feisty underdog called Zalgiris Kaunas, Zeljko Obradovic expects from his players to be ready for a fight.
After all, Obradovic expects that Zalgiris will not give up, despite the odds: “We worked all season to be in this position to play in the playoffs. We have the home.court advantage. We believe our people will come here to support our team, to help and I want for them to show hospitality to Zalgiris. I hope they will be good basketball games. I respect Zalgiris very much, especially how they played the last stretch of the regular season, fighting everyone. They deserve to be here. It won’t be easy, but we have a clear target in front of us.”
On the other hand, coach Sarunas Jasikevicius, who played under Obradovic in Panathinaikos, wants his team to be focused on details: “Fenerbahce is practically the same team that has been there for a couple years now. They’ve got the same coach and they play beautifully, since they understand the system and have a good feeling for one another. That’s a factor that worries everyone. Competing in playoffs is a whole new stage now, the importance of every loose ball, every detail is much bigger now. They’re very disciplined, very experienced. We can’t give away presents – bad fouls, easy points, because we know they won’t be giving it up easily for us. The team was built for this stage of the season. And it’s important that we understand the importance of every detail”.