Xavi Pascual: "A few minutes punish all the good job that we did in another moments of the game"

Zenit's head coach Xavi Pascual commented on the outcome of the game against UNICS (76:79) and discussed the problematic aspects of his team's performance. Additionally, the coach of the blue-whites team shared his opinion on how much the winning streak affected Zenit in this match.

— First of all, thanks to all the fans who were on the stadium. In general, we lost the game because of turnovers. We had 16 turnovers today. Also, our transition defence after turnover was very bad. This was a big part of the game and also more or less four minutes that looks like we give up the game, looks like we make a disconnection, two minutes in the second quarter and the last two minutes of the third quarter more or less punish all the good job that we did in another moments of the game.

— What did Zenit lack in attack? Why couldn't team play more aggressive in attack and score more?

— It was a little bit everything. I think when we drive inside, sometimes we had pass outside and we didn't do it. We have to pass the ball better. We didn't share the ball like usual today, in some moments, especially second quarter. Sometimes the players, they must understand in some situations that it's not only to take the responsibility because this is because the players wanted to take the responsibility. It's also that to take the responsibility also is to take good decisions and sometimes. Games like today, we didn't do it well.

— How much can players adapt to a calendar like this where you first have a week between games and then two days?

— The calendar is something that I cannot control. Because it's not part of my decisions or my organization. Just I need to adjust and to prepare the team in the right way every time so now. We need to recover well and to be ready for for the game on Sunday. After the break we will play again in Kazan. Why we play In three games, two games against Kazan, I cannot tell you. This is not part of my job. Every player can adjust. We try to prepare the team and the loads of the practice. Everything it depends how many days we have for every game to adjust. Yeah, we have big experience as a coaches in this kind of situations as well as a players and we manage well more or less as you saw always we came to the game in a good shape let's say to try to win.

— The team had a 12-match unbeaten streak. Perhaps there was an additional pressure or perhaps a lack of concentration?

— No, we were playing against one big opponent, excellent team, very good players, nothing else. We didn't lose from I think 12th of October, so it was almost two months, 12 games, so this is what it is and nothing else. We are not going to win all the games until the end of the season, we know, and today our opponent was a little bit better than us and we lost. We have to work hard and be ready for the next game. It's a long way until the end of the season. We have to finish in the best position as possible, but nothing else.