New Zalgiris Kaunas (5-12) coach Andrea Trinchieri will look to start with a win against lowly ALBA Berlin (3-14), which has lost all eight road games this season.
Andrea Trinchieri, Zalgiris: 'I am highly motivated'
2023-24
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 18 of 34
Regular Season
Zalgiris KaunasZAL
7771
ALBA BerlinBER
Overview
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Trinchieri will aim to restore confidence to a Zalgiris team that has lost six in a row and the three-point shooting of recent arrival Edmond Sumner could be a big asset after he made 3 of 5 triples in last week’s loss to Maccabi. ALBA won the Round 12 meeting between the teams 64-62 and will look to regain that defensive level after shipping 94 and 91 points in its last two games. Johannes Thiemann was key to last month’s win over Zalgiris with 16 points and 6 rebounds and he’ll be expected to perform his usual leadership role as ALBA seeks its first road win.
Andrea Trinchieri, Zalgiris head coach
"I have just arrived to Kaunas and we had one 80 minutes practice together. But I see that this team has values, has good players and I just need to squeeze the juice and take the best out of them. Maybe it will save some time, because our first opponent is ALBA, which I know really well. I have faced them many times in recent years, so it can save some time for scouting. ALBA is a very dangerous team. They have unique style of play, they move the ball around a lot, and they like to play fast. We will need to limit that and be better in transition defense.
"I am here with only one goal, to help this team to play better, to be better, to improve. I am highly motivated because I am the coach of a team in a country where basketball is a religion. And one day, I could say to my kids that I was the coach of Partizan Belgrade and Zalgiris Kaunas. It's something that, for how I see basketball and for what the fans of these two teams can give to their players, is something that is a huge motivation."
Israel González, ALBA head coach
"With the fans in Kaunas behind them, Zalgiris is always a tough opponent. You can also expect an upturn in the team after the change of their head coach. That makes the task very difficult for us on Tuesday. We assume that Kaunas will continue to be very physical. They play very disciplined team basketball - Evans and Smits stand out in particular."
Edgaras Ulanovas, Zalgiris player
"Changing of the coach is the part of this business. We all want to play better, to have better results, so we need to help the new coach to get adjusted as quick as possible. We can do that by getting the positive result during the first game of the New Year. It will be again played in front of full stands of Zalgirio Arena and that is the greatest sign of support that our fans can give us. Talking about ALBA, we have lost to them on the road after leading for 38 minutes, so we need to learn from that and be much better in Kaunas."
Tim Schneider, ALBA player
"We all just had a short New Year's Eve party. The game against Zalgiris is incredibly important for us. We want to win away from home, even though it's always tough to play in Kaunas. The arena there is always full, always loud - a great atmosphere. Zalgiris is also difficult to predict, especially after the change of their coach. That's why we have to show the right attitude to win on Tuesday."