Rīgas Zeļļi coach: showing our best game now would worry me
Latvian basketball club Rīgas Zeļļi won its second game in the Eurocup, and head coach Rokas Kondratavičius said he does not want to see the team's best play this early. He added that the standings will only matter after the regular season ends.
Latvian basketball club Rīgas Zeļļi earned its second win of the season in the Eurocup, the second-tier European men's club basketball competition. The game was played at Xiaomi Arena in Riga against Cedevita Olimpija of Ljubljana. Afterwards, head coach Roks Kondratavičs, a Lithuanian, told a press conference that his team controlled the whole game, although the finish was somewhat more nervous.
Standings not a priority yet
Kondratavičs said he had not expected the team to begin the Eurocup with a 2-1 record. He wants the players to keep a game-by-game mentality and said the team will look at the regular-season table only once the regular season is over. The coach said he feels the team can compete in this league and fight for wins, which he called extra motivation.
Lomaž's performance and mistakes
Latvian basketball player Lomažs, playing for the visitors, scored 14 points in 29 minutes. Kondratavičs said preparing was easy because his assistants know Lomažs very well, but that he is a high-class player. The main plan was to make him play more without the ball, yet late in the game Lomažs, with the ball, made things uncomfortable for the hosts.
The coach stressed that there were still many mistakes. The opponents scored 79 points, which he considers too many. There were also several lapses in thinking in which players failed to maintain the desired level.
"It is only the start of the season and I do not even want to see the best basketball yet. If we were showing our best game now, I would start to worry about it," Kondratavičs said. He added that several players have not yet reached peak form, and that the team cannot play with only six or seven players in the rotation, so younger players must contribute too.
Earlier games
In their first Eurocup games, Rīgas Zeļļi beat Italian Serie A side Derthona of Tortona 86-84 at home, and lost 86-87 away to Rostock Seawolves of Germany. Rīgas Zeļļi is the first Latvian club to play in the Eurocup since 2015.
