Sarunas Jasikevicius
7.00am. No alarm clock went off. He has been continuously awake for 9 days, 12 hours, 44 mins relentlessly working on prepping for the semifinals against Fenerbahce. His eyelids have demanded political asylum in Denmark.
8.05am. Internet connection in the office fails for a 3 minute window, forcing him to stop working. UN blue helmets’ intervention is required in order to keep him quiet.
9.45am. He drops by the Cafè downstairs to have a quick coffee. A passerby notices him and lets a friend know. That friend lets a friend of his know, who then gives a heads-up to another friend.
9.50am. Sixteen thousands Zalgiris supporters are loudly praising Sarunas just outside the “Arvidas Café”.
11.45am. He manages to leave the café, carried over the supporters’ heads like a rockstar, and he goes back to the office.
1.00pm. Press conference leading up to the Final Four. The event is broadcasted on television. 99.8% share.
2.45pm. Text message from Pangos, warning him that he is facing a muscle issue and he is not sure he’d be able to make it for Friday.
2.50pm. Sarunas texts back, explaining Pangos that, should he not be able to play for whatever reason, the muscle injury would be the milder pain he would let him feel.
2.51pm. Pangos lets him know that he is in perfect shape.
4.00pm. Interview with a EuroLeague reporter, who, before starting to fire questions, would like to read his palmares.
5.20pm. The reporter is finally done reading Sarunas' palmares.
7.00pm. He takes a moment to think about the Kavaliauskas-Datome defensive pairing, to then realize that the “Shaving is beautiful” Association wouldn’t be happy with that.
8.30pm. He is done scouting Vesely, Sloukas, Datome and Kalinic. He now starts working on Melli by reviewing a game he played back in 1997 when, 6-years-old at the time, he scored 4 points, 2 in his own basket, in a minibasket game in Reggio Emilia.
10.15pm. Not being sure about which offensive option to choose to face zone defense, he decides to let a coin make that choice, throwing it up in the air for a heads or tails response. Maceo Baston comes from nowhere and slams it on the ground with two hands. He though it was an alley oop.
11.30pm. He cannot sleep. He decides to text Obradovic:
- J. “What are you up to?”
- O. “I’m watching the works on a 1200 sqm shed”
- J. “Why?”
- O. “I need it to store all of the trophies I have won”
- J. “hahahahahahahha you sure they are gonna fit in there? The shed might
be too small. Are you happy we are gonna see each other next Friday?”
- O. “Of course I am”
- J. “How do you feel about it?”
- O. “Tough. Your team is a wonderful one.”
- J. “Thanks a ton. That said, you guys are much stronger. We’ll do
everything we can to try to give the champions a hard time”.
- O. “You play amazingly well and I truly admire you a lot as a coach”
- J. “Do you remember us lifting the EuroLeague Trophy 10 years ago,
yourself as a coach and myself as a player?”
- O. “How could I not. I am shivering.”
- J. “I’m crying.”
- O. “I love you.”
- J. “I love you, too”