Susijeng’s chief pilot Lassi Tuov became the first Finnish-born coach to act as head coach in a Euroleague match.
Lassi Tuovi led the Italian club Virtus Bologna in the final moments of the basketball Euroleague, when the team faced Lithuanian Zalgiris away on Tuesday.
Tuovi took over the reins of Bologna when the head coach Luca Banchi received a shower command from the bench in the final quarter. 58-year-old Italian coach received a technical warning from the whistle for the first time at six minutes into the game and again in the last quarter.
After moving to the sticks, Bologna was no longer able to turn the match into a victory, when the team finally suffered a defeat to Zalgiris by baskets 81-96.
Tuovi wasn’t afraid to jump into the head coach’s shoes when Banchi got the shower command.
– I didn’t really think about it. This is basketball and things happen, Tuovi notesi Bologna pages.
The Italian club was still in the lead when the match went into halftime (49-43). However, the home team Zalgiris played a strong second half and emerged victorious.
– They deserved to win. We were prepared, we played a good first half and a difficult second half, Tuovi said.
Bologna’s next Euroleague match is already on Friday in Belgrade, when the group faces Serbian Crvena zvezda.
With the loss, Bologna fell to eighth place in the Euroleague. The Lithuanian club Zalgiris, on the other hand, is the fourth last in 15th place.
One of the Finnish coaches was born in Canada Gordon Herbert has only previously worked as a head coach in the Euroleague. Herbert, who led Germany to the world championship in the last World Cup, has coached in the Euroleague three times, when he piloted the Frankfurt Skyliners in the 2001-02 season, the French Pau-Orthez in the 2006-07 season and the Greek Aris Thessaloniki in the 2007-08 season.