Pablo Laso didn't take Baskonia's loss to Monaco very lightly, since he kept the team in the locker room for more than an hour before heading to the press room. The Basque coach hinted at potential roster changes in the coming weeks, depending on how certain players will perform.
Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz suffered their fourth consecutive EuroLeague loss on Thursday night, dropping their Round 9 game to AS Monaco (75-87).
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
20
|
| Mike James | |
| Points | 16 |
| Accuracy | 5-13 |
| Rebounds | 6 |
| Assists | 7 |
Coach Pablo Laso was quite unhappy with his team's performance. How much? Well, a lot, since he kept his players in the locker room for more than an hour after the end of the game. Almost an hour after Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic had finished with his own comments, the Spanish play-caller was still in the locker room.
Laso was so frustrated with Baskonia's performance in the first 20 minutes that he didn't even appear in the halftime flash interview for EuroLeague TV.
The Basque team was down 24-47 at the break after starting the game 5-22 at the end of the first quarter. Baskonia cut the deficit to five at halftime, 55-60, near the end of the third quarter, but Monaco pulled away again to extend their lead and stay out of reach.
It wasn't the first time Laso took his time to attend the presser. He did the same following the home loss to Andorra (91-95) in the ACB opener. He then gave a wake-up call to the players and asked for a general reflection.
"Sorry," he said before sitting down and verbalizing a brief and not very detailed analysis of the match. He even forgot to start his opening remarks in English, as the protocol requires.
“Let’s put it this way: after the first half it’s very difficult to analyse anything today,” Laso said just after the final whistle. “We weren’t here in the first half. We came back in the second half. That’s all I have to say.”
"I didn't like the start of the game," he continued. "There are two aspects. We must show from the very beginning a sense of energy and toughness that we have not shown. It is something that we need to change and improve.
And then there is an important issue, which is the individual improvement of players who keep making the same mistakes from the beginning. That bothers me and they hurt other players," he pointed out.
"As a coach, these days, or rather these weeks, come in handy to see what I have," he said, hinting at a roster evaluation.
"I can't expand," he replied when asked about his previous statement. "I have to discuss it with my assistants and let the players know first. I can't let it out here," he argued.
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