EuroLeague: Jasikevicius Erupts After Semifinal: "This is a Very Sad Situation for the EuroLeague"

ATHENS. Fenerbahce's loss to Olympiacos in the EuroLeague Final Four semifinal was not the only source of tension at the Telekom Center Athens. After the game, Sarunas Jasikevicius heavily criticized organizational problems related to Turkish fans' tickets, calling the situation "very sad" for the competition.

The Fenerbahce head coach confirmed the club's complaints about the management of tickets allocated to their traveling supporters in Athens, stating that many fans with purchased tickets were unable to enter the arena.

Beyond the organizational issue, the Fenerbahce coach also analyzed his team's loss to Olympiacos, acknowledging that the Turkish side never felt comfortable on the court and specifically criticizing their offensive start in the semifinal.

"We were not ourselves. It was very clear that Olympiacos was Olympiacos and Fenerbahce was not Fenerbahce," Jasikevicius summarized after the elimination from the EuroLeague Final Four.

The coach particularly lamented how easily Olympiacos punished Fenerbahce's defensive mistakes whenever the Turkish team managed to get close on the scoreboard.

"Every time we found some hope and got within nine or seven points, we gave up easy baskets," he explained.

Jasikevicius also pointed to an excess of three-point attempts at the worst offensive moments for his team, stating that Fenerbahce strayed from their usual identity.

"In these big games, if you start launching three-pointers constantly like we did in the first five minutes, that's not our basketball," concluded the Lithuanian coach.