Zalgiris mandhandles ASVEL at home 6

Zalgiris Kaunas used bruising defense to manhandle visiting ASVEL Villeurbanne for a 85-67 victory on Thursday to sweep the double-round week.

Its second-biggest victory this season after a month away from home pushed Zalgiris to a 15-13 record.

ASVEL was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention as its record fell to 8-20 despite Nando De Colo reaching a milestone.

Ignas Brazdeikis led Zalgiris with 19 points. Isaiah Taylor added 15, while Achille Polonara added 11 and 6 rebounds. All three players came off the bench.

Jonah Matthew paced ASVEL with 18 points while Youssoupha Fall and Dee Bost had 10 each. De Colo added 9 and with his last 2, on a fourth-quarter layup, passed Juan Carlos Navarro to become the competition’s second-best scorer ever, with 4,154 career points.

De Colo and Charles Kahudi scored 5 points each as ASVEL took over in the early going to lead by as much as 5-14 before Brazdeikis hit Zalgiris’ first three-pointer to begin the comeback. ASVEL still retained a 16-22 advantage after 10 minutes, but Polonara and Taylor came off the Zalgiris bench to fill a 7-0 run that soon put the hosts in front 36-32. Taylor kept it going with a feed to Laurynas Birutis for a slam dunk and his own triple to make it 41-32. Brazdeikis converted a three-point play with 2.2 seconds left for the first double-digit lead, 47-37, at halftime.

The Zalgiris defense gave no quarter after the break as the lead climbed to 55-40 on free throws from Edgaras Ulanovas and Rolands Smits. ASVEL could find little in the way of shooting room as the difference soon swelled to 65-48 on four points in a row by Lukas Lekavicius and settled at 65-50 after 30 minutes.

Ulanovas and Polonara hit back-to-back three-pointers for a new high lead of 71-52 early in the final quarter. Mathews kept it from getting bigger for a while but the last highlight for ASVEL was De Colo’s milestone-breaking layup with 3:37 left to make it 77-62. Tomas Dimsa and Brazdeikis responded with triples and the sold-out Zalgiris crowd of almost 15,000 fans was dancing in the aisles the rest of the way.

Comments

  1. Darius

    nezinau kaip kitiems, bet man siu metu Zalgiris kol kas virsija lukescius. Reguliaraus sezono pabaigoje uzima 8 vieta, kas yra ziauriai malonu iskritus Evansui. O nedziugina Giedraitis, vienas prasciausiu pasirinkimu per paskutinius 15 metu ir Lukosiunas. Noreciau parasyti ka nors gero apie ji, bet tiek fantazijos neturiu.

  2. 709

    Su antra pergale dviguboje savaiteje!

  3. Saulius

    Nu, šaunu

  4. viskas

    su zalgiriu yra gerai , ir tai rodo komentaru kiekis po naujiena, na taip giedraitis kol kas yra tik savo paties praejusio sezono šešėlis , sutartis ilgalaike , jam dar tik 22 m, reikia tiketis atsigaus kazkada. O Karolis jau pre ilgai bandomas vis dar kazko tikintis, ne zalgirio lygio zaidejas

  5. Issukis

    Po Tayloro proverzio Zalgirieciu ispudziai: Jis yra zveris

  6. Zalgiris

    Kai pagalvoji Abidna kad su Maccabi ar Zvezda Monako Pao tos pabaigos nepaejo dabar galejom turet 16 17 pergaliu bet dabat 15 pergaliu daugiau pozityvo galima luptis toliau