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Photo: L.Žemgulis
Photo L.Žemgulis
The Lithuanian basketball community welcomes a completely different, but no less intriguing, January weekend.
There will be no Betsafe-LKL duel next weekend. It is true that there is an important reason for this: it is time to meet the participants of the final four of the Citadele King Mindaugas Cup (Citadele KMT).
The fans and even the players themselves were used to Betsafe-LKL matches on weekends; often at least four, sometimes six, different championship matches took place on Saturday and Sunday.
This time, starting on Saturday and ending on Monday, four return matches of the quarter-final phase of the Citadele KMT will be played, during which the four strongest teams of this year’s tournament, the participants of the four finalists.
The party of the most important matches of the tournament will start on Saturday at 5 pm in Vilnius. Basketball players from Rytas and Utena Juventus will participate in the second battle in the capital.
Rytas and Juventus will meet in the quarterfinals of the Citadele KMT tournament for the fifth consecutive year.
“The Vilnius team is now in a crisis in which I would not like any team to be in. This is a really difficult time, said LKL.lt coach and basketball specialist Tomas Purlys. – For five years, the situation here it is the same: the fight continues until the last seconds. I think it will also last until the last moments of this year. “
“Instead, it’s like an 80-minute match and now, after two halves, after 40 minutes, two points ahead of Utena. It means nothing.” This match will be very interesting, it is also important how each team will be able to prepare for this game, “he added.
Speaking about the real chances Utena’s team has to reach the final four, Purlys made sure that the Žydrūnas Urbonas students just need one more good match. In this case, the opportunity will not slip away for the fifth year in a row.
“I would say that a lot is now in the hands of the Juventus players themselves: if they play a good game, their chances are really good. The general panorama of the current morning is very poor. The people of Utena need a good game and take advantage this opportunity ”, said the specialist.
The next game on Saturday will take place in Panevėžys, where Lietkabelis and Prienai Cbet will meet at 7pm.
It is true that the great intrigue in this duel cannot be created for the people of Priieniai, because Lietkabelis won the first duel in Prienai by 19 points. Nenad Chanak students at home just don’t lose 20 points and a ticket to the four finalists is guaranteed.
However, Cbet has shown once that he can confidently defeat the Panevėžys team. The Betsafe-LKL championship match, which took place on January 6, ended with a 15-point victory for Prieniškės.
Speaking about the Panevėžys team’s play and the opportunities in the Citadele KMT tournament, Purlys assured that they are currently clearly the second team in Lithuania in terms of capacity, so they should be not only in the final four, but also in the grand final. .
“Žalgiris and Lietkabelis are currently the top two teams in Lithuania, both are already in the top four and I think they should both compete in the final,” Purlys said.
The third retaliation of the Citadele KMT quarter-final stage will take place in Klaipėda, where teams from Neptūnas and Šiauliai will meet on Sunday at 4pm. In the clash between Tomas Gaidamavičius and Antanas Sireika, the latter will have a much bigger headache, as Šiauliai “brings” a deficit of 15 points to the port city.
Neptūnas’ team only need not lose 16 points in Sunday’s game. It is true that immediately after the first clash of the Citadele KMT quarter-finals, these teams again competed in the Betsafe-LKL championship, where the victory of the Šiauliai team has already won by 6 points, so Neptūnas works in this stage is far from complete.
“Perhaps this solid victory for Neptūnas at Šiauliai was the most surprising in the quarter-finals. As we saw in later LKL matches, the picture was reversed. All the other teams played as they should.
I don’t think Neptūnas can lose at home to Šiauliai by 16 points. Of course, there is everything, but it seems that the hosts will be represented in Klaipeda, ”said Purlys.
The last match of the Citadele KMT quarterfinals will take place in Kaunas, where the current owner of the cup, the Žalgiris club, will want to finish the work started on Monday at 7pm.
Martin Schiller students will meet again at home with Pasvalys’ Milk Stars. It is true that the match at Pasvalys became a solid step for Žalgiris towards the final four, because the Kaunas team won that match by 16 points.
The Gediminas Petrauskas troops reaching the champions ‘territory will have to work from the shoulder to restore the intrigue: no team in Lithuania has beaten “Žalgiris” by more than 11 points this season, Žalgiris’ team only lost once this season. season.
“Žalgiris” had a few good minutes to break up the match at Pasvalys. Here it is clear. In almost all cases, the current “Žalgiris” in Lithuania would have enough good minutes to win. Unless full concentration is needed before Lietkabelis, ”Purlys shared her thoughts.
The basketball specialist has no doubt that currently the only team that can seriously challenge Žalgiris is Lietkabelis. This is demonstrated by the two games between this season, in which the passions were reduced until the last moments.
Purlys claims that one of the participants in the final of the Citadele KMT tournament is already clear and is “Žalgiris”, and the second should be “Lietkabelis”.
Speaking of the possibilities of the Panevėžys team to “bury” a competitor showing excellent form, the interlocutor assured that there really can be everything in a match.
“I think Panevėžys can challenge. Much will depend on how long the teams have to prepare for the final four. If the schedule is favorable enough for Žalgiris, it will be difficult for them to bury him. But knowing that Lietkabelis has already finished performing in Europe and now all the concentration on the home front would give a very good chance that Žalgiris and Lietkabelis will meet in the final.
Anything can happen in a game, we must bear in mind that for Martin Schiller this would be the first final with his team. Lietkabelis can boldly challenge. It can be interesting in the final, really ”, promised Purlys intrigue.
Watch the most important matches of the Citadele KMT tournament directly on the LRT Plus channel, as well as on the DELFI portal.
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