Zalgiris finishes second in LKL regular season 0
Zalgiris Kaunas finished the regular season of Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) with the loss in Vilnius. Lietuvos Rytas gained home court advantage in LKL playoffs with a 90:81 (24:18, 20:25, 20:24, 26:14) win at home against the visitors from Kaunas.
Zalgiris’ Dainius Salenga top-scored for his team with 20 points, Travis Watson collected 11 points and snatched down 7 boards as Marcus Brown also had 11. Aleksandar Capin got into double-digits as well having a 10-point night while Mantas Kalnietis and Tadas Klimavicius scored 9 each.
Igor Milosevic had a wonderful night scoring 20 points and dishing out 9 dimes for his Lietuvos Rytas’ teammates. Martynas Gecevicius netted 17 as both Donatas Zavackas and Kenan Bajramovic added 13. Steponas Babrauskas had 11 points and Jonas Valanciunas also had a very decent game with 10 points and 7 rebounds.
Zalgiris took a six-point lead after Tadas Klimavicius slammed it down and made the opponent coach Rimas Kurtinaitis call for a timeout with the score at 80:74. This was the turning point of the game. Lietuvos Rytas turned their game up a gear and Igor Milosevic, who was having by far the best game for his new club, ignited a 10:0 run, that included six point from the Serbian-born player.
With one and a half minute remaining Jonas Valanciunas turned the ball over and was called for an unsportsmanlike foul immediately after stopping a possible fast break. Zalgiris couldn’t use this to their advantage as Dainius Salenga converted only one-of-two from the line and coming up empty on the rest of their possession.
Martynas Gecevicius put any remaining questions about the game aside with a dagger three-pointer with just less than a minute to play – 87:81.
Even an amazing three-point percentage for Zalgiris couldn’t save the visitors. The club from Kaunas hit the first six attempts from beyond the arch before missing their first as the first half was winding down to a close. Zalgiris went on to shoot 12-of-20 for the whole game. Lietuvos Rytas valued the ball way better than their opponents, committing only 7 turnovers whilst Zalgiris made 17.
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