Ioannis Sfairopoulos defended his players and explained his decision to select Isaiah Canaan as the free-throw shooter in a crucial moment. Crvena Zvezda's coach pushed back against blaming the double week for the loss against FC Barcelona.
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade suffered their first loss in the EuroLeague after a nail-biting overtime game against FC Barcelona. After the match was over, the Serbian club's head coach, Ioannis Sfairopoulos, faced questions about his players.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
30
|
| Kevin Punter | |
| Points | 26 |
| Accuracy | 10-13 |
| Rebounds | 0 |
| Assists | 3 |
Both Crvena Zvezda and Barcelona were neck-and-neck throughout the entire 40 minutes, with the lead changing 20+ times. In the end, Kevin Punter hit a clutch three-pointer with just under a minute to go, and the home team could no longer overcome the deficit in the famous Belgrade Arena.
There was an interesting moment at the end of the fourth quarter. When Joel Bolomboy got the defensive rebound with Crvena Zvezda leading by one, a jump ball was called. After the red-and-whites recovered the ball, Barca's head coach, Joan Penarroya, received a technical foul.
Following the technical foul, Penarroya used his head coach's challenge, and the referees reviewed whether an 8-second violation was committed during the possession. The decision was overturned, and the ball was given to Barca.
Before the change of possessions, Isaiah Canaan shot the free throw and missed it. Sfairopoulos was asked about the decision to give the ball to the veteran point guard, who had scored just three points and hadn't shot a single free throw up to that point, instead of trusting Yago dos Santos, who was the team's leading scorer.
"Canaan [had] scored important free throws in previous games, and he's a good free-throw shooter," the coach said at the post-game press conference.
The Greek specialist was confronted about the supposed lack of big men on the roster and whether Uros Plavsic, a 2.17-meter center who wasn't registered for the game, could've helped.
"Uros is not ready. He's in the process. He must first play well in the ABA League. I used him a lot in Split, and he wasn't good. I trust him, but he needs time to play at this level," Sfairopoulos explained.
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade / Schedule
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade
FC Barcelona
Real Madrid"Fener[bahce] doesn't have size? [They're a] similar team like Barcelona in comparing the sizes, but we didn't have problems [against Fenerbahce]," the coach replied, mentioning the previous dominant win against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul on Tuesday.
The questions kept pouring from the local media.
One journalist wanted to hear Sfairopoulos' input on whether the team was tired in the last minutes of the match, especially in overtime, and whether the reality of the EuroLeague double week when teams have to play two games in a couple of days cost the win.
"I don't agree with you. We split the [playing] time, we had all the roster that participated [previously] if you check the times of participation. Only [Nikola] Kalinic has 26-27 minutes [of playing time], all the others played 23-25," Sfairopoulos said.
"When I divide the time, this is the reason to keep the team fresh. The double weeks are the same for everybody. This is not an excuse."
Nemanja Nedovic scored just one point in 11 minutes after having averaged 15.7 points per game in the previous three contests. A similar story happened with Canaan, who scored just three after having a 12-point average before the game.
Asked to comment about their performance and supposed 'invisibility' on the court, Sfairopoulos defended his players.
"What [do I have] to tell you... They are players, they are not machines. They're human beings - in some games they're good, in some games they're not," he said.
