Thursday night at Zalgirio Arena turned into a disappointing evening, as Zalgiris (8-6) suffered a 65-83 defeat at the hands of Maccabi Tel Aviv (4-10).
The game’s turning point came early. After trailing 12-20 at the end of the first quarter, Zalgiris offense stalled completely. This allowed former Zalgiris player Lonnie Walker, in his return to Kaunas, to single-handedly engineer a decisive 0-10 run for the visitors, pushing the deficit to 24-39 in the second quarter.
A massive 30-51 halftime deficit proved too much to overcome. While Zalgiris defense showed signs of life in the third quarter, holding Maccabi to just 9 points, the struggles on offense continued, and Zalgiris players were never able to truly threaten the visitors’ lead in the second half.
Sylvain Francisco led Zalgiris with 13 points and 7 assists. However, it was a tough shooting night for the guard, who went 0-for-7 from three-point range, ending his impressive streak of 35 consecutive EuroLeague games with at least one made three-pointer.
For the visitors, Lonnie Walker was the main protagonist, finishing with 23 points, while Jaylen Hoard added 16 points and 9 rebounds.
