Zeljko Lukajic : We weren't concetrated in the important moments

08-01-2008 21:26 | Александър Сотиров

Lukoil Academic head-coach Zeljko Lukajic:
"I want to congratulate the team of Benneton for the good basketball they played today and the fully deserved win. We lost to one really strong opponent. Today's game was a proof that our group is the hardest in this year's edition of the ULEB Cup. We want to go through to the next phase, and I'm sure that we will be able to do it.
I want to talk about two things, that always have been very important to me - the high free-throw percentage and minimum turnovers. We failed both today. There's something positive about today's loss - we didn't surrender, and we came back in the game few times.
They played with 4 short players, and it's simple because those are their best. Gigli was injured and they didn't had a oportunity to play with taller guys.
We weren't concentrated in the important moments of the game. We weren't aggressive enough, and at the end they had a bonus, and they didn't had to foul us. We didn't use in the best way the opportunities for fastbreak and easy baskets. I don't want to justify myself, but around the holidays I told the players - you either want to play or you want torest.
We had a chance in the third quarter, when we lead by 6 points. We had desire, but as I said we weren't concetrated enought. Just as a fact, in the end of the first period we only had one team foul and they had scored 25 points.
We will make our conclusions and we are looking forward. As my colleague said, those games bring joy to the fans and are good for Bulgarian basketball. I hope we come back soon to our style of play, and we could win again. I think, that one more win is going to be enough for us to go through to the second phase."