pic credit Martin Jung

Marko Zarkovic is a Serbian coach that was hired to coach the Dragons Rhondorf in mid season. He has had experience coaching is Estonia and Latvia. He was with the Telekom Baskets Bonn organization from 2020-2024 where he was headcoach of the youth teams U-16 and U-18 and also of the Telekom baskets Bonn 2 team in the Regionalliga. He spoke to germanhhoops.com about the game 2 loss against Leverkusen ending the season.

Thanks Marco for talking to germanhoops.com The Dragons Rhondorf suffered a tough 73-62 loss to Leverkusen to end the season. How tough was it for you to have the season end?

It was not easy but our players gave their best in the last game. I can’t expect more from them, so at least we can be happy with that.

You may not have known this. But the 2 coaches of Leverkusen Mike Koch and Hansi Gnad are German basketball legends that won the 1993 European championships. What did it mean coaching against them?

1993 Championship was the first competition I watched as a child so I know we played against big legends. For me it was a pleasure to coach against 2 great people and coaches.

The team was without Kelvin Omojola in the Leverkusen series. Do you feel like Kelvin Omojola could have been the difference especially in game 2 to tie series?

He is our captain and with him we would have had bigger chances, no doubt about that.

The second quarter was incredible. What was it like for you watching and coaching that? How much fun was it seeing that?

That was the best quarter of our season and it was amazing to watch the team. I felt very proud of our efforts. I think everyone in the gym was very happy with the team in that moment. It was the best defensive quarter of the season.

What was it defensively besides the flying around that helped the Dragons be successful?

It was the energy and team spirit, guys played for each other and helped each other without excuses.

It was more than flying around wasn´t it? Did every Dragon have their own space ship? That is what it felt like? It seemed like the Dragons knew exactly where the ball was going?

Hahaha, I was telling the players several times during the season that we are the Dragons and that we need to spread our wings and start flying. We were very focused and probably have surprised Leverkusen with a decision to guard their bigs with our wing players.

What did you tell the team at half-time to do for the second half?

I told them that we need keep the same energy and believe till the end.

In the third quarter came the dreaded 18-0 run. How tough was it to watch that? Why wasn´t the defense working on Dennis Heinzmann anymore? He scored 5 buckets in the third quarter?

He is an amazing player and with our size it is not easy to guard him. We haven’t been scoring on the other side and that affected our confidence.

Leverkusen didn´t really defend any better in the third quarter, except maybe being more aggressive. It was more on the Dragons? Why did it seem like the Dragons was a bit half hearted? Did the team lose faith in their abilities?

I agree it was more on us. We had open shots who didn’t go in, if we have scored some of temt open 3’s it would be a different game. We were not mentally strong to finish the game but that is something that was happening several times during the season.

The Dragons never gave up and trailed only by 3 points after 3 quarters. Did Leverkusen wear down the Dragons in the fourth quarter?

I think it was more that we had 3 players with foul problems and that we couldn’t rotate and keep some guys fresh.

Still the Dragons gave all they had in their last home game. How proud were you of the team and how they played?

I’m very proud, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose but if you give your best you can go home happy.

Thanks Marko for the chat.