Latvia point guard Arturs Zagars played down his FIBA Basketball World Cup record 17 assists in a battle for fifth game against Lithuania at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday, September 9.
Zagars, 23, said he was simply making passes and his teammates were able to make shots, which he said might have been a little case of luck.
Zagars said that it means more to him that his World Cup debutant Latvian team finished fifth in the world meet than his assists record.
VIDEO BY NIEL VICTOR MASOY
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00:00 Arturs, amazing run in this tournament, you had 17 assists today, you beat the all-time record in assists by 2. How does it feel?
00:12 I mean, I was just passing the ball and my teammates made the shots early in the first half as well.
00:19 It's that simple, I just passed the ball and they made the shot. Obviously I'm grateful and thankful because it means more that we finished top 5 than the record.
00:31 Arturs, it felt like your teammates were looking for you the whole time when you were giving those assists. How do you feel that they have a lot of trust in you to just shoot you down the offence? How do you break that record?
00:47 Obviously I play a lot of pick and rolls because I'm point guard and a lot of centre pick and rolls and I just try to read, trust my instincts and if I see an open man I try to dish it and if he makes the shot that's an assist.
01:01 I don't think it's something special, maybe I was just a bit lucky today because every time I passed the ball, like I said before, they made the shot so nothing much else to add.
