Saras: Maccabi ceremony f---ed me up

A decade after Derrick Sharp's unforgettable three-pointer propelled Maccabi Tel Aviv over Zalgiris Kaunas en route to winning another Euroleague championship, Sarunas Jasikevicius and his Lithuanian squad returned to Nokia Arena.

Jasikevicius, a 6-foot-4 member of the Euroleague's 2001-2010 All-Decade Team who has four European-competition titles under his belt, dropped 37 points in 30 minutes as a staring point guard for Maccabi's 2004 winning-team.

The former Lithuanian Olympian who played two NBA seasons for the Indiana Pacers and Golden State Warriors was honored before tip-off by ex-Maccabi teammate and current Tel Aviv manager Nikola Vujcic. "Saras" registered 11 points, connecting on a season-high five field goals, and dished out two assists in a 77-67 loss to former Israeli sweetheart.

"I was calm all day," Jasikevicius said. "But then Nikola (Vujcic) fucking created a ceremony and completely fucked me up," the animated legendary guard added during a one-on-one locker room session.

"We had opportunities (to win the game), but that's the story of our season. If you come to Tel Aviv and want to beat Maccabi you must take advantage of everything – of every little mistake. We didn't and (Maccabi) took advantage of our mistakes."

Zalgiris swallowed its ninth loss in ten Euroleague games. "Our Euroleague season is not what we expected," the 38-year-old guard confessed. "Obviously our record (1-9) is disappointing, but it wouldn't have been if we didn't have opportunities to win. We had chances to win games so many times and could've been with three-or-four victories by now. At the end of the day it's all could-a, should-a, would-a."

Jasikevicius shed light on rumors hinting he recently turned down an offer to serve an interim coach for Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos. He also commented on future retirement thoughts.

"I'm a player of Zalgiris and I am under contract so it's silly to talk about things like coaching jobs. I don’t want to comment on that. I never want to let go of this game because once I stop playing it's finished, it's over for the rest of my life. I'm having a great time playing and I really don’t want to stop. Now is more difficult for me, though. Some days I feel I can compete at the highest level, and other days I feel slow and old, but I'm not thinking about retirement yet."

STORY BY DAVID PICK
TWITTER: @IAmDPick