Xavi Pascual: "We will try to improve in all the parts of the court"
— This is one of those games after which we can say that more or less until the end of third quarter it was a normal game. With our mistakes in the first half, with our problems we took 15 points advantage in the beginning of the last quarter. And what happened in the last quarter cannot happen. We stopped to play, we stopped to play defense. Offensively, we became a little bit selfish. We stopped to share the ball. And we stopped to score, also. Because we were not effective. Because in some situations we had some open shots and we missed. So, one game that we scored 21-21-27 in the first three quarters. Сan't It be that in the last quarter we scored 12.
But every game is one lesson for us. We are a new team. And we have to take from this game, to take this message to the next games to always to be concentrated and to never think that the game is over.
— Zhbanov had three chances to score 3-pointer in the first quarter. Was it a planned every time when he got the ball that he should throw?
— Zhora is one player that gives us a lot of things in the court. When he's open, he has to shoot like everybody. Maybe the first shot was a little bit quick, but all the rest, he was in a good situation and he could score. In the practice he score.
So, just the last two games, he's not effective, but we trust him. You know that he helps a lot the team always. In the next games he will do it again.
— You played three games in seven days, how difficult is it? What do you think about the schedule? How difficult it is to recover?
— We didn't stop to play in the last period. Every three days we are playing, but this season it's going to be a lot of times like this, because we have 44 games in the regular season, so we have to be ready.
— Is it more convenient for you as a coach to play home series of games and away series of games instead of playing home, away, home, away?
— No, I don't know. This is schedule, I don't know. It's created like this, but. This is not something that I can say something or I can do anything. I have the schedule and I have to go through the schedule. I cannot even think what I would like. It's not important. It's what it is and I have to go through this schedule.
— Do you think the key was how Zenit played in defence?
— In the third quarter we played better defence in general, but during all the game we had some particular problems that we are trying to find solutions. We are not defensively in the level that we want to be. For sure, also it's one game that we could score some open three points a little bit more and to close the game. So, we can say that in offense we could be a little bit better and in defense also a little bit better, so we have to continue and improve in all the aspects.
— Was there something special you told your players after the loss against Lokomotiv?
— Every game is a lesson. Today we have the lesson that the game is not over until the end. And the game against Lokomotiv mainly is that... We cannot lose the concentration for any reason.
And we became crazy because of some situations that cannot happen. We have to try to put attention just in the things that we can control. What we cannot control, we cannot control. So, in the beginning of the season, it used to happen this. You miss in offense, and after that, you are not okay in defense. You miss in defense, after that, you are not okay in offense. This is something that we are trying to help the players to change. It doesn't matter. You can make some mistakes, but you cannot make two mistakes consecutively. So, if you miss one shot, after that you have to play good defense. Or if you don't play good defense, play good offense. But for this we need time.
