Kazys Maksvytis, Zalgiris: 'Edgaras Ulanovas was great'
Kazys Maksvytis, Zalgiris Kaunas head coach
“Like we expected, it was a hard game. We had a plan in the fourth quarter: to pass the ball to [Edgaras] Ulanovas. Our captain was great, he helped us. We were lucky, but I think we deserved the win and we won twice, because we won the game and also the point-difference. Zvezda gave us big contact on both ends, good speed, good aggressiveness. We started to lose possessions, but as we have been doing all season, we fought until the end and we deserved the win. We expected somebody would take his [Keenan Evans’s] role and the captain did it."
Dusko Ivanovic, Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade head coach
"I think that tonight we started badly, and soft. When we played our defense, and with patience on offense, we got good results. It’s true that in the last 2 minutes we lacked ideas, we played nothing and [Edgaras] Ulanovas hit two three-pointers that decided the game.”
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Arnas Butkevicius, Zalgiris Kaunas forward
“Actually, I don’t know [how we managed to take this victory]. Our captain took the ball in his hands and sealed the deal, because we were struggling a lot in the second half on offense, on defense. Somehow, we manage to stay in the game, but those 2 threes of the captain decided everything. Absolutely [Edgaras Ulanovas is the leader when we are missing Keenan Evans], yes. Especially in crunch time, as he has shown this season a lot of times. He feels good in his team; he is not afraid of taking responsibility and he does it well."
Edgaras Ulanovas, Zalgiris Kaunas forward:
“It was a long game, we had a lead in the first half and there were some bad moments in the third quarter and in the beginning of the fourth. We started to lose rhythm, they played really physical [and] didn’t let us score easily. We needed to suffer a lot, but the thing is that we showed is big character, because when you are winning for a long time and you start to lose, you need to stay in the game. There are still a lot of things to do better, to improve and to learn; we cannot think that we are good at the moment. The game can change in two minutes. We were struggling and there were still 4-5 minutes remaining. It’s a long time, so we needed to stay together, share the ball, be aggressive and take responsibility at the end. Somebody needs to take responsibility. But I’m going to repeat the same: we must play much better if we want to be a contender for the playoffs."