Zalgiris Kaunas took their first Euroleague victory at home against Brose Baskets Bamberg 81-70 (28-21, 18-22, 14-10, 21-17).

The first half started nervously for Zalgiris. The home side just couldn't find a cure for Brose Baskets attacks and at one point was trailing by seven, but then Aleksandr Trifunovic asked for a timeout and managed to get the Greens back in the game, ending the first quarter ahead 28-21.

In the second period, the visitors stayed close, but the Brose Baskets bench was quickly given a technical foul, although the hosts didn't use their chance to get away.

The first half of the game ended with two consecutive Zalgiris turnovers, despite that, an impressive three-pointer from Sonny Weems gave Zalgiris a 46-43 edge after the first twenty minutes.

Two teams struggled to score in the third quarter, when both of them stepped up on defense. The visitors scored only 10 points in 10 minutes, leaving themselves trailing 53-60.

In the decisive part of the match, the Brose Baskets improved their game and with six minutes to go, closed the gap to just two. This time Zalgiris made the right conclusions and in the end didn't let a win to slip away, celebrating their first victory in 2011-2012 Euroleague season.

Former Raptors' swingman Sonny Weems led the hosts with 22 points, Marko Popovic added 13, Milovan Rakovic 12, Ty Lawson and Mantas Kalnietis finished the game with 8.

For the visitors, Brose's forward Predrag Suput had his game high of 19 points, Marcus Slaughter scored 11, while Julius Jenkins added 10.

Chris Fleming (Brose Baskets Bamberg head coach): “At first I want to congratulate Trifunovic's team, because they showed strong character in a difficult situation. One of the most important facts in this game is that Weems got away from us in the first half, I think especially those five points before the break hurt us. They just did a better job and got away with a win.”

Aleksandr Trifunovic (Zalgiris Kaunas head coach): “First of all, talking about the game, of course the victory is important and we're glad about it. But what's more important and makes us happy, it's our fans. They stood of their seats before the game and sang the national anthem. That was a special moment, which helped us to win. So far I'm with the team for only seven days, so I need more time to make our play better. I believe this team can achieve really good results in this season.”

One of the most renowned Lithuanian players of his generation, Saulius Stombergas is returning to Zalgiris, as he will become an assistant coach to the newly appointed Serbian specialist Aleksandar Trifunovic.

The 37-year-old Lithuanian sharpshooter started working in the coaching staff of the second team of Zalgiris after finishing his playing career and was already appointed to be the head coach of the team from this season.

However, Stombergas didn’t spend even half a season, coaching the second division side before he earned another promotion, when he was invited to become part of Aleksandar Trifunovic’s staff after the changes at the helm of Zalgiris, which saw Ilias Zouros step down as the head coach.

The new assistant coach to Trifunovic has had a fair amount of success with Zalgiris, as he was one of the members of the Euroleague-winning squad in 1999, which remains one of the biggest achievements in Lithuanian club basketball to this day.

The tough start of the season continued for Zalgiris, as Kaunas club lost 79-88 (15-20, 26-21, 20-17, 18-30) to VEF Riga in the VTB United League on the road in Latvia.

Zalgiris had a four point lead in the beginning of the last period after Mindaugas Kuzminskas dunk, but Courtney Simms scored a basket at the other end before the solo show of Curtis Millage began.

The American played the passing lanes perfectly and ended up racking up three steals in three successive possessions, which led to him scoring eight points in a row for the home team to give VEF a sensational victory.

Millage led VEF in scoring with 20 points, also adding six rebounds, four assts and four steals to his account, Dairis Bertans ended up scoring 18, while Sandis Valters and Kristaps Janicenoks contributed with 13 and 11 points respectively.

Zalgiris guard Ty Lawson finished the game with a team-high 17 points, Milovan Rakovic scored 14, while Marko Popovic and Robertas Javtokas both chipped in with 10 points each.

This was the fourth loss in a row for Zalgiris, as the Lithuanian champions had lost Unicaja in Malaga, Nizhny Novgorod at home in Kaunas and also to Panathinaikos in Athens on Friday.

In Group A of the VTB United League, Zalgiris ranks fourth with a 2-2 record.

After yesterday’s loss to the six-time Euroleague champions Panathinaikos, the new Zalgiris head coach Aleksandar Trifunovic and the Lithuanian national team center Robertas Javtokas were still optimistic in their interviews to Kauno Diena.

According to the coach, the only thing he needs at the moment is time and building a positive attitude inside the team.

“I think the defense wasn't bad. As I said, time is not on our side. This is a good team, but there are things which cause us trouble. It’s not easy to change our game style or the attitude in two days.”

When asked about things that should be improved, Trifunovic said the team has to play more through the front line, although, he mentioned once more that the game couldn’t be changed in one night.

Javtokas keeps his head held high

Despite the loss against reigning Euroleague champs, Lithuanian national team captain and Zalgiris center Robertas Javtokas believes the team will show its real face in upcoming matches.

“The coach is changing everything, because he has his own philosophy which I, personally, like very much. Everything is good, we just need time. I believe in Trifunovic’s vision. He understands that we can, and want to play fast. We’ll work on it, because we can’t play in the way we do now.”

He denied the rumors that the atmosphere in the team isn’t good:

“Nobody’s ruining the team. We don’t have any problems with foreigners too, they’re great guys. We’re all good. Every team should have an atmosphere like ours. In the past we lacked strictness. Also, in my opinion, we weren’t used properly. We have to play more aggressive and faster – that’s what we need. Now we play too passive, our gameplay should be a little bit different.”

Having led against the reigning Euroleague champions at halftime, Zalgiris collapsed in the second half and ended up losing 75-92 (21-25, 21-13, 13-26, 20-28) to Panathinaikos in Athens to slip down even further down the group standings with a 0-3 record.

Aleksandar Trifunovic’s first game as the head coach of Zalgiris started of fairly well for the visitors from Kaunas, but Panathinaikos picked up the intensity in the second half, scoring 54 points in the third and fourth quarters combined.

The hopes of coming back into the game collapsed for Zalgiris when Milovan Rakovic fouled out and then got whistled for a technical foul for an overly emotional reaction towards the referees to see the Greeks pull away 74-62.

Dimitris Diamantidis led Panathinaikos in scoring with 16 points, Mike Batiste had 14, while Ian Vougioukas and David Logan ended up with 13 points each.

Sonny Weems had a game-high 21 points for Zalgiris, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Lithuanian side in the game in the second half. Ty Lawson scored 14 points and dished out four assists, while Milovan Rakovic collected 12 points.

An impressive performance by the 18-year-old starlet Tauras Jogela was not enough for the youth team of Zalgiris-SKC to defeat the newly reborn Statyba Vilnius, as the side from Kaunas lost to the visitors from the Lithuanian capital 76-80 (26-22, 18-18, 6-20, 26-20) in the National League (NKL) on Friday.

Jogela, who has doubled his numbers comparing to last year and is averaging 15.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, was close to finishing the match with a triple-double, having displayed a great all-around performance of 19 points, 11 rebounds and 8 steals.

The Latvian playmaker Kaspars Vecvagars collected 13 points, Renaldas Simanavicius added 12, while Rolandas Jakstas ended up scoring 11 for Zalgiris-SKC.

The 20-year-old Statyba guard Tadas Rinkunas nailed four-of-eight three-pointers for a total of 18 points as well as adding four assists and five steals. Remigijus Sugintas scored 16 and grabbed nine boards, Aurimas Stakenas chipped in with 14, while Ovidijus Varanauskas had 10 points and eight assists.

Zalgiris becomes the third Euroleague team coached by Trifunovic, 44, who spent two years with Zalgiris rival Lietuvos Rytas, making the Top 16 both times. He also coached Panellinios of Greece in that club's only Euroleague season, 2008-09.

Trifunovic replaces Ilias Zouros, who was released by Zalgiris after a season-opening loss to CSKA Moscow. Last season, Trifunovic and Lietuvos Rytas finished with a 3-3 record in the Top 16, one victory from making the playoffs. They fell a victory short of the playoffs, too, in 2007-08, the first Euroleague season ever for both coach and club.

Trifunovic began his head coaching career in his native Serbia with Crvena Zvezda, coaching two separate seasons, 2002-03 and 2004-05. He arrived at Lietuvos Rytas midway through the 2006-07 season and guided the team to the ULEB Cup title game, which it lost to Real Madrid.

In 2009-10, he returned to Crvena Zvezda, making the Eurocup's Last 16 before being eliminated on points. In his return to Lietuvos Rytas last season, Trifunovic repeated the club's Top 16 trip and became the last team to beat eventual champion Panathinaikos in Athens before bowing out of the competition. Altogether, Trifunovic boasts a 23-23 record in three Euroleague seasons, including a 5-7 mark in the Top 16.

Zalgiris continued to struggle in the new season, sensationally losing to Nizhny Novgorod 86-92 (21-28, 21-18, 24-24, 20-22) at home in Kaunas in the VTB United League.

It was Zalgiris second loss in the league, as the club from Kaunas had already lost to Astana previously, while the victory in Kaunas was the first one for Nizhny Novgorod, who had lost the first three games of the season.

Semen Antonov led the visitors from Russia with 24 points, six rebounds and five assists, Nemanja Protic and Michal Ignerski scored 17 points each, while Nizhny Novgorod’s guard Ernest Bremer finished the game with a big double-double of 13 points and 11 assists.

Paulius Jankunas, the captain of Zalgiris, finished the game with a team-high 17 points, Sonny Weems scored 14, as Ty Lawson and Robertas Javtokas ended up chipping in with 11 points each.

Having led for most of the game, Zalgiris collapsed when it mattered most and suffered a second straight defeat in Euroleague, losing 78-85 (19-22, 20-8, 13-19, 15-18, 11-18) on the road against Unicaja in Malaga on Tuesday.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, the visitors from Lithuania had opened a game-high 11-point gap at 39-28 in the second period, but Malaga fought back and erased the deficit with a 12-0 run.

With one and a half minutes to go in regulation, Marko Popovic hit a dagger three that gave Zalgiris a three-point advantage at 66-63. However, Unicaja managed to tie the game at 67-67 and sent it to overtime.

Popovic started the overtime with two successful free-throws, but the hosts answered with a 9-0 run, which opened a 76-69 gap and decided the outcome of the game.

Joel Freeland led Unicaja with 21 points and 12 rebounds, the Latvian playmaker Kristaps Valters scored 20 and dished out seven assists, while Tremmell Darden finished the game with 10 points.

The athletic swingman Sonny Weems had a team-high 21 points for Zalgiris and grabbed eight boards, but finished the game with five turnovers. Marko Popovic made all eight shots from the free-throw line to collect 18 points to go with six rebounds, while Tadas Klimavicius finished the game with 8 points and six rebounds. Ty Lawson collected seven points and grabbed nine boards.

Zalgiris took another victory in the Lithuanian League (LKL) despite resistance of Baltai, as last year’s champions used a strong fourth quarter run, to get a 91-73 (21-24, 18-16, 20-18, 32-14) win against Kaunas’ second team.

Mindaugas Kuzminskas led Zalgiris with an amazing performance of 30 points, Marko Popovic scored 16, while Milovan Rakovic and Paulius Jankunas had 15 and 11 points respectively for Zalgiris.

Mario Delas and Edgaras Ulanovas were the top-scorers for Baltai, as both finished the game with 13 points, Siim-Sander Vene chipped in with 12, while Mindaugas Kupsas added 10 points.