The head coach of the Bulgarian national basketball team, Rosen Barchovski, was candid after the 62:85 defeat by Montenegro in the qualifiers for the European basketball championship and stated that the team was significantly behind its opponent.
“Without having seen statistics and video of the match, I can say what is the reason for this loss. We are unprepared. We are not ready for anything. They are too, but they have the individual class. In defense we had problems, especially under the basket It’s not that we lose that much, but we had difficulties of a different nature – both in the 1:1 defense and in the attack halftime we had four misses under the basket. We also missed a few open shots,” said Barchovski.
He said that he was also dissatisfied with the attitude of the team in the last 3-4 minutes, when the difference swelled seriously in favor of the Montenegrin team.
“There was a frivolous attitude at the end and the gap of 10-12 points, which we were trying to melt, instead increased. We surrendered. The gap is not real, but that’s the situation,” the coach added.
However, he does not lose hope for the upcoming Monday’s second match between the two teams, which is in Botevgrad.
“Our flight was delayed due to bad weather and I don’t know when we will return home. In the second game we will throw ourselves as hard as possible. There is no chance of beating Montenegro with more than 25 points in Bulgaria, but this difference can affect a triple carousel with Sweden”, he added Barchovsky.
The head coach was also asked about the rotation of the tall players in the Bulgarian team and the fact that Simeon Lepichev played few minutes and Emil Stoilov did not appear on the field at all.
“Simeon Lepichev didn’t play badly, but he burned out with these three quick fouls. Emil Stoilov didn’t play because their tall players are much faster. I hope that in the next match we will be able to use him,” concluded Barchovski.