Andrea Trinchieri, after the defeat against Rytas in the championship finals in Lithuania, showed up in the press room for a conference full of bitterness.
After an analysis of the match we come to a consideration on the season: «Zalgiris has experienced a very difficult season, full of ups and downs. In the middle of the season we played well, we achieved a positive result in the Euroleague, we won the cup. It was very difficult to keep all the pieces together. We reached the final after a difficult season thinking that everything we had done before would work. But in the third game of the semi-final we lost our offensive leader and it was a hard blow.”
Observation, not alibi: «But I think we could and should have done much more. The lesson is very simple: I will accept all criticism because I have enough experience. The organization must learn from this to improve. I made a lot of mistakes during the season, but if I didn’t improve it would be very difficult. Creating a stable and good situation is very difficult. We need to understand what didn’t work in order to show a stronger Žalgiris.”
ON THE RESULT
«I have never let the result define my work. I came here, I did my best. There is no coach in the world who can guarantee anything. Just commitment, professionalism and doing your best every day. We lost two overtimes and another game by 1 point. I don’t think it was due to motivation, but to the performance on the pitch. If you’re not motivated, you’ll lose a game by 10 or 15 points – I’ve seen it happen a million times.”
ON THE FACT THAT ZALGIRIS HAD NOT MISSED A FINAL SINCE 2010
«I think about my future every day. No game or series will define who I am.”
ON THE FUTURE
«I’m not important right now. We just lost a final, “the body is still warm”. I care a lot about Zalgiris. I came, I tried to help, I did good things, I made many mistakes, like every coach. But this is not the right time to talk about me.”
