Andrea Trinchieri, Zalgiris head coach, spoke after securing a spot in the Lithuanian Basketball League finals, but the focus was on Keenan Evans’ injury.
The American got injured without any contact. He already had issues with that foot. Last year, he tore his Achilles tendon on the same leg, and the Italian coach could barely find words to talk about it.
“It’s fresh, but it doesn’t look good. This hurts me because this is an incredible person. I can’t find the right words. Today, he drew three offensive fouls in the third quarter. Three. He plays for this team as if he grew up in Nemunas in a family of fishermen. He has a green and white heart. I would give him my knee if I could,” Andrea Trinchieri said at the beginning.
He then talked about Nenad Canak, who was ejected from this game, expressing great respect for the team from Panevezys, but also issuing equally sharp criticism.
“I have a lot of respect for Nenad Canak. Their style is unique, they are one of the best teams moving without the ball. But this was a nightmare. There were a million contacts. I feel sorry for my players and the referees. Anyway, we won 3-0.
Now we’re talking about the last quarter, whether there were fouls or not. I respect one player on their team who speaks fluent Italian. That’s Gabrielis Maldunas. He kicked Rolands Smits in the back, and I thought: Is this a movie? Is this Space Jam? Don’t get me wrong, I respect Lietkabelis and Canak. Everything else is basketball, people, we just want to play basketball.
We won the series, do I like it? No. I’m doing my job. We won a tough series where there was a lot of acting. I would tell the referees to take a stomach remedy first, then one for the head,” emphasized the former Bayern coach.
Zalgiris will face Rytas or the Wolves in the finals, and when asked if he will watch that series:
“You can watch a lot of basketball now. EuroLeague, Bundesliga, Italian League, Endesa League, and the Lithuanian Basketball League. I will watch that series. Things will be different there, in such cases, the third game usually decides,” concluded Trinchieri.