Just give him the ball: Grigonis’ leadership crowned the toughest game of the season / News

Photo: BNS

Photo: BasketNews.lt/D.Lukšta

Photo: BasketNews.lt/D.Lukšta

Photo: BasketNews.lt/D. Shell

Photo: BasketNews.lt/D.Lukšta

Marius Grigonis threw the ball into the basket and took a slight step back, as if certain that the black-orange Spalding would soon cut the net.

After a moment, Grigonis was flying all over the Žalgiris stadium, shouting and pointing his finger at Žalgiris’s substitute bench, triumphing as if he had scored a goal in the Champions League final.

His and his teammates’ celebration was only briefly interrupted by the match officials, who ordered him to return to the pitch and play the last 0.6 seconds, which were activated on the timer after further video review. For Bayern Munich, this part of the second changed nothing: with no more minute breaks, the guests were forced to throw the ball off the baseline and Joffrey Lauvergne did everything he could to make sure no miracle happened. .

The celebration of the victory of “Žalgiris”, the fourth in a row, then continued in the center of the square, where Grigonis drowned in the arms of the team’s friends.

“When I accepted this job, they told me that in the last attack, the ball should be in the hands of Grigonis. Then everything went according to plan, ”smiled Žalgiris strategist Martin Schiller after the match.

He was obviously joking, because in the last attack, with 4.3 seconds remaining, Kaunas had several options. First, look for a sniper, Artūras Milaknis. Also, the option of throwing the ball to the tall man below the basket. When both versions fell, Thomas Walkup, who threw the ball from the wing, made the decision to entrust the throw to Grigonis.

Man of the match

That’s all I wanted.

The 26-year-old Žalgiris leader took the ball almost in front of the basket, hit it twice on the floor turning left, easily bounced off DJ Seeley and launched a victorious shot, after which the scoreboard showed Žalgiris’ advantage 74:73.

“There was a combination and three variations, one or the other could carry the ball,” Grigonis said after the duel. – This time I didn’t want to miss and I thought I could throw. Funny, I always want such pitches and I always ask God to be successful in pitching. Thank God you fell. “

Grigonis, a graduate of the Kaunas Jesuit Gymnasium, thanked God in several interviews after the game. It was kind of a cute coincidence that he hit the biggest launch of his season on the eve of the biggest Catholic holidays.

“Marius took the initiative in what he always does and is never afraid, and throws up. We are very happy and thank you “, – said Paulius Jankūnas in the dressing room” Žalgiris TV “.

“It was a nervous situation because we wasted an advantage, we fell behind, we committed ourselves where we didn’t have to,” recalled Agustín Rubit in the last seconds. – There are thoughts in my head that I don’t want to lose this match. He did not want to lose them for various reasons.

It’s fun to finally throw a pitch like that. In the matches with Real and CSKA, the opponents threw such strong shots and we lost those matches. We were finally on the other side. “

Žalgiris, led by Grigonis, led 72:67 in the final minute of the match, but soon Seeley fired from the distance, Žalgiris’ attack jammed and ended with a difficult and inappropriate 3 by Grigonis, and Nick Weiler-Babb exploded underneath from the basket and scored two points with Lauvergne’s foul.

Thus, Bayern, who have won 10 victories in 15 rounds before this match and are among the four strongest teams in the Euroleague, have found themselves in the hair since the eleventh victory.

Grigonis quickly removed that hair.

With a pitch just before the final siren, he scored his 22nd point and eighth in the final 5 minutes of the match.

And don’t tell him the launch was not quality.

“It’s the same thing Mike James throws when he falls on the floor. Is it a good launch or not? Today, such pitches are released, – said Grigonis. – Mindaugas Kvedaras (Žalgiris team coach – Aut. Past.) We always play one on one on match day during the match, I do those pitches. Thanks to Mindaugas for defending against me every day of the game and letting me improve, maybe he contributed a little.

For Žalgiris, this was the fourth win in a row, after defeating two excellent defending teams during this section: Baskonia and Bayern.

Kaunas’ own players demonstrate solid defense during this stretch, and more precisely, since the match with Barcelona, ​​preventing rivals from exceeding the 73-point limit for five games.

During the long series of defeats earlier, Žalgiris’s defense stared in the eye and was probably the main reason for the failures. The lack of communication and support from the bench was another of the issues discussed in the team meeting before that duel with Barcelona.

Less than a month later, the “Žalgiris” players were so loud that the referees even punished them for a technical foul. In the third quarter, Kaunas’ substitutes reacted with emotion to, in their opinion, an unrecorded foul against Lukas Lekavičius, and the nearby referee immediately awarded a penalty.

Schiller reacted angrily by yelling, “Come on, guys,” but after the duel, he admitted that he shouldn’t get angry about the bank’s emotions.

“I was a bit disappointed at the time, but I can’t be disappointed because the bank is very active,” said the Žalgiris strategist. – Everything is fine, because the judges warned us, so the decision was good. I’m not mad at the guys, you can’t control it. “

Still, this gathering on the eve of the big holidays is not very reminiscent of a Christmas light. On the contrary, it was the toughest game of the season for Žalgiris, where there was more strength, drive and foul play than in any other game.

Emotions rose late in the second half when Jalen Reynold abruptly shoved Grigon under the basket. Jankūnas was quick to defend a teammate and got into conflict with virtually all five of Bayern and head coach Andrea Trinchieri.

Even the old Schiller, who was on the opposite side of the square, gathered the men together.

After the review, Reynolds and Jankūnas were awarded non-sporting fouls by the referees, and a total of five non-sporting and technical fouls were recorded in the match.

“I respect Paul Jankūnas, but he attacked Reynolds,” Trinchieri said after the duel. – Paul is a respected and experienced player so I just took him away from Jalen. Jankūnas tried to explain why he was dancing to my student, but he didn’t want any trouble. All right, I have good life insurance. “

“Žalgiris” won responding to a difficult match and without throwing many 3-pointers (6/15), which greatly facilitated their attack in the last matches. They threw only fewer long-distance shots in a match that ended in a tragic loss in Tel Aviv (1/14).

Bayern also severely restricted the play of Rock Jokubaitis, who received perhaps the most attention from rivals during his short EuroLeague career and was limited to a precise shot in five attempts.

Kaunas residents made 20 mistakes, 13 of them after a long break, but the opponents themselves responded with stiff defense.

“Our attack could not be accelerated, we had to build a lot of barriers, and we are still not in the places where we usually find ourselves to earn easy points,” Rubitas said after the duel. – I think it was the toughest game of the season. But in our defense, we also made them sweat more than they are used to ”.

After all, tonight was about Marius Grigonis and his gift to all Žalgiris fans. Having received two days off for the Christmas holidays, the people of Žalgiris were happy to be able to give good emotions to all their fans.

“It’s nice that in years like those, during the holidays, we gave people some kind of gift. In those moments, it’s fun when something good happens, “Grigonis said.