Xavi Pascual: "Today we shot with low percentage in two and three points"

Zenit head coach Xavi Pascual gave a detailed comment at the end of the winning match against Enisey (83:76). The meeting of the 30th round of the VTB United League regular season took place today, February 5, on the CSC Arena court in St. Petersburg.

— First of all, my congratulations to Enisey for this game. They played a very, very good game. And thanks for these 4 000 supporters that we have today in the stadium. Our game in offense in general, despite the fact that we beat one game with only seven turnovers, was not so effective, let's say. We shot with low percentage in two points, low percentage in three points. But our game in defense was not enough also, we allowed Enisey to feel the game. And after that, in the second half, when we tried to play better defense, there were some moments that it was very difficult to stop them. But ok, it's a lot of games during the season. If I'm not wrong, today was the 30th game. And sometimes it happens. And the most important is finally that we win the game and we can think about the next one.

— Do you agree that the team gave too much emotion in the match against CSKA, and today's game for 35 minutes is a consequence of the previous match?

— No, not only because of this. Also because Enisey is doing a very, very good job. I like them. I said in the previous that for me, Jovica is one of the best coaches in the competition. He's taking always, in all the teams, great performance. All the teams are playing very well. So for one side, it's Enisey. For another side, we were somehow not ready. It's true, mentally probably. But we had, somehow, concentration. It was not one game that we were out of the game, no. It was not. So it was difficult to win also because our opponent played very well.

— On the other hand, in the last 5 minutes you pressed a button and the guys played just great.

— Okay, we are one team with experience, also some players know the moment that they have to press a little bit moreю But no, it was not me that just pressed the button, just the games are 40 minutes and finally in the last part of the game we were much better and just closed the game. Just this.

— During the first half, all the players from the roster were involved. It doesn't happen that often. What was the reason for that? Was it an attempt to find new connections, including for beginners, or was there not enough energy?

— As a coach, I try to think about all the players, and I try to help all of them, the season is very long. During one season you need all the players, today we consider like this, and next game we'll see. Every game is completely different than the game before, and we try to help all the players to help the team.

— There's a game against PARMA ahead, and then against UNICS. Will you need additional motivation for the match with Kazan after the meeting in Perm?

— We need the motivation, the normal motivation that we have always because we want to win all the games. Just this, now in Pern it's going to be very difficult to win. As today, if I'm not wrong, they lost by one only against UNICS, so it's going to be very difficult to win.

— Okaro White has finally arrived. What are your impressions of his first training sessions and first game?

— Yes, still he needs time. He practices only one day and a half. Still with somehow jet lag. But step by step, he will be able to help us a lot.