Klaipėda residents lost 90:103 to „Juventus“ in the fourth semifinal game.
They lost the semifinal series 1-3 in a best-of-five. Now they will face battles in the small final against Panevėžys „Lietkabelis“.
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„Neptūnas“ fell into a hole in the second quarter. After it, they had a 20-point deficit (35:55). After the long break, it had grown to 23 points, but then G. Petrauskas’ pupils rose to fight.
Having worked diligently, with 2 minutes left until the end of the game, they had reduced the difference to 5 points (88:93), but it was not enough.
“Today we did not look like a team in the first half that wanted to force a fifth game. When we pushed ourselves into an unenviable position, only then did we start showing a fight for every ball. It should have been from the start of the game. I am surprised and disappointed,” said G. Petrauskas, wiping his eyes at the press conference.
Although the coach emphasized that his pupils did not lack strength, he pointed out that he missed the energy and desire to fight for the balls.
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“We depend on offense. If we pass the ball well, take a well-prepared shot, we manage to get back on defense. We try to rebound. Today we did not get a single offensive rebound in the first half. That was missing today.
The decisions were bad because we do not understand what decisions we want to make. The opponents take advantage of that. We do not stop fast breaks in the first quarter. When the game slipped away, only then did the team start collapsing on the ball,” said the „Neptūnas“ coach.
Now they will face the challenge from Panevėžys for the bronze medals. What is most important before this battle?
“We need to return to Klaipėda and recover emotionally. We already exhausted ourselves in the second half. We should have done that all four quarters. We did not think about the series for third place. We wanted to force the third game for Klaipėda. Now we will prepare for „Lietkabelis“,” said G. Petrauskas.
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