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The Kaunas “Žalgiris” team started the second round of the Euroleague with a solid 102: 75 home win against Chimki in the Moscow region. The Krepsinis.net portal offers the most interesting aspects of the duel.
Problems in the first part of the game. During the first part of the match, “Žalgiris” put great emphasis on defending against Alexei Swede, which was predictable. The Russians “read the game” perfectly and outplayed the defensive ideas of their opponents, making great passes, most of them to Devin Booker. Often times the defender could extend Žalgiris’ defense and, by penetrating deeper into the penalty area, then he would make a pass, after which teammates could score points or make a good shot to the basket, which did not always reach the goal. goal. During the first two parts, A.Švedas had 7 assists and scored 12 points, while he was left with 1 pass in the other half.
At times, the ice defense “Žalgiris” reminded us of what we saw during a series of defeats, when opponents easily took advantage of their shortcomings and did not communicate with each other. Taking advantage of this, Chimki accumulated a reserve of 11 points, and then the actions of the Žalgiris people even began to show nervousness and urgency. During the minute of rest, Martin Schiller encouraged to calm down, follow the plan and at the same time pointed out that the rivals were 70 percent correct. his colon, which became a reproach to the defense. Obviously, the 48 points lost in the first half are too many.
In attack, Žalgiris made very good use of two aspects: the combination of “two against two” and the advantages over the exchange of rivals. “Chimki” swapped defenders, thus trying to eliminate Kaunas’ 3s and it worked well in two halves: they threw only 5 times and hit 1 time. And this shot of Nigel Hayes from afar was random, not after a well-played combination.
We remember very well how “Žalgiris” tried to outwit the tall people with the “one on one” game of the defenders in the exchange situations, but now more and more they look for ways to exploit their big man against the “little” of the rivals. On this occasion, Joffrey Lauvergne did it very successfully and did not have many problems, because holding against him, the Swede did not even make an effort to defend, only lowered his arms and did not even try to imitate the defense.
Pikenrole Chimki had a lot of problems before this match: Krepsinis.net wrote that they lost 0.922 points during the attack and this is the 15th result. “Žalgiris” made great use of it and racked up points, and the Frenchman loaded the ball from above so many times that half of the set of most beautiful Euroleague episodes can be collected from his episodes alone. If J. Lauvergne shot 13 points out of 14 in 23 minutes and scored 38 points, it shows very clearly how much trouble Chimki has on defense.
Almost a record quarter. After two halves, “Žalgiris” was -9, but he did not give up the idea that everything will work out and the people of Žalgiris will achieve victory, as “Chimki” often held out for two quarters, but collapsed in the second half of the duel. . This time, this scenario was reinforced by the fact that only D.Booker and Jordan Mickey were left in the front row, and Sergei Karasiov competed only by force in the “fourth number”.
However, it was not even possible to dream that Chimki’s card house would fall so fast and Žalgiris would score 39 points (!) In a quarter, which is the second best result ever, in 2009. on January 8, 41 points for Nancy SLUC’s basket it is a record. The people of Žalgiris also believed in his strength, that he did not change anything in his system, which happened this season, when there were obvious problems during the first half. This time “Žalgiris” started to defend with more strength and intensity, and 7 points in 75 seconds helped catch a good wave, which gave him even more self-confidence.
“Chimki” seemed asleep after the break and even Rimas Kurtinaitis’s two-minute break at 5.5 minutes didn’t help here, because already then “Žalgiris” jumped from -9 to over 9. It’s even more surprising that the guests raised the white flag very early, from the action. On the pitch and the body language, it was understood that the players no longer believe in themselves in the third half with 3-4 minutes remaining when the deficit reached 15 points. The guests did not hit a comfortable pitch, when in the second quarter A.Švedas scored a one-legged triple through Martin Geben and Stefanas Jovičius, practically from midfield in the last second of attack.
Šiurpokas was an image of S. Karasiovas grabbing his finger and grabbing it on the bench. These types of basketball injuries are common, but they seem very uncomfortable and Russian in the remaining 13 minutes. on the parquet he did not return.
R. Kurtinaitis. It was a shame to see this strategist who had laid eyes on the ground at a press conference. Journalists were only allowed to ask three questions when Chimki rushed to leave. It’s a shame, because more details about the dismissal of assistants and the appearance of Aleksandras Trifunovičius in the team could be learned, because R. Kurtinaitis is an open person and maybe he would reveal something.
We can commend Lithuania for the fact that the game plan was very well prepared and we saw that it worked in two quarters. So he didn’t really seem to be playing sixth against eighteenth. R. Kurtinaitis acted without two members of the five starters and an important player in the rotation Sergejs Monios, which forced him to make atypical decisions, for example, playing with 4 defenders at the same time. And the one-minute breaks were taken at a time when there was still an attempt to stop the Žalgiris train, but the players lowered their hands too early and looking at the replacement bench was pointless, as Vladislav Odinokov or another young Russian they would hardly have saved him.
Much about Chimki’s situation is demonstrated by the fact that A. Švedas celebrates his triple by raising three fingers when his team’s deficit reaches 20 points. You will not see such cases anywhere in the Euroleague; it is obvious that this player is satisfied with his 22 points and 37 minutes. and 18 sec. in game time, and losing a team is secondary.
In the second part, Chimki looked like a mosaic of complete individuals, not a united team. D.Booker still tried a bit on defense, but when his strength ran out he didn’t even bother to catch Lukas Lekavičius, whom he missed and earned points from below the basket like during training. A series of losses and a desperate situation seem to force Chimki players to save and stop trying when the difference increases a bit. In this situation, the human factor works when you realize that there is nothing left to fight for, because in the Euroleague the season is already buried and there is no difference between 16 or 18. However, unless it is a matter of honor, but it is possible to bet that for many Chimki representatives, this aspect is not conscientious.
Asked by Krepsinis.net if R. Kurtinaitis does not want to give up everything and go fishing, the specialist stated that he is not looking for the easiest way and will continue working. The determination and desire to survive is to be welcomed, but it is unlikely that his pupils will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes and show the victorious basketball that will lead to the United League title. There is still time and, if possible, changes to the composition should be made. It remains to be seen if Janis Timma and Jonas Jerebko have already played their last match for this team. Be that as it may, working alone on training will hardly help Chimki wake up.
conclusion. “Žalgiris” earned a point, which he had to add to his account. It doesn’t matter that Chimki has a budget of $ 24 million. euros, but things did not happen throughout the season, and even the rivals were scattered forces. In fact, it seemed that in the first round, Chimki’s players showed much more desire to fight and their eyes were shining more than on Friday in the middle of the third quarter. The victory is very important for the residents of Kaunas also because next week they will have to play with CSKA in Moscow and Zenit in Saint Petersburg, rivals who are higher in the standings and defeated the LKL champions in the first round. . It will be very interesting to see what conclusions will be drawn in the match and how much Žalgiris has really progressed since the first meeting with these clubs. With 11 victories, he brought Žalgiris even closer to the quarter-finals, but neither did the competitors: all the main candidates “behind the line” won: Piraeus Olympiacos, Anadolu Efes from Istanbul, Baskonia from Vitoria, Maccabi from Tel Aviv and Istanbul. Fenerbahche “, so the” status quo “remained after the 18th round.
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