The victory of “Žalgiris” that sowed discussions: constant complaints from the residents of G. Bartzokas and Kaunas who were fined for their mistakes

When three minutes before the end of the game Vassilis Spanoulis stabbed the triple assassins with whom he became famous throughout his colorful career, it seemed that Kaunas “Žalgiris” could no longer answer the guests of Piraeus. Remembering the old days of V. Spanoulio and Jorge Printezio the tandem simply contaminated the residents of Kaunas in a very painful moment.

Žalgiris missed his chances in the other two attacks, when he launched another three-point pass. Marius grigonis, and then the colon didn’t exactly notice and Joffrey Lauvergne.

Interestingly, after a few moments on the opposite side of the field Shaquielle’as McKissicas He was practically able to close the game, but managed to be completely free to avoid hitting from under the basket. The athlete with a powerful jump is one of the most productive Olympiacos players with an average of ten points, not characterized by such mistakes, so it was a true smile of success.

And everything else is history. “Žalgiris” flashed seven zeros in an instant and restored equality to the cornerstone of the match. How realistic to expect an attack level organizer like Sloukas Coasts Will he lose the ball in such a significant match, when it is he who has the last and most important attack of the match? Maybe when defending you against him a physically strong and active defender like Thomasas Walkupas.

The American from “Žalgiris” once again did a titanic job in defense, and this episode was just a berry in a delicious cake. An important advantage of “Žalgiris” in those last seconds that the team had not yet committed four fouls. This meant that a foul or intercepted ball would be a successful episode for the American, as in the event of a foul, the guests would be forced to restart the attack and, 8 seconds later, it would be more chaotic.

Has T. Walkup sinned? It may be, but it must also be taken into account that in this match the referees automatically allowed more contact at times. Like the decisive Th. During the standing shot, he was hung from the body. Livio Jean-Charles.

Olympiacos coach Georgas bartzokas after this release he smiled wryly, appealing to the judges. He also complained after his students’ final attack, when his team within 0.8 sec. failed to smooth the result.

The Greek specialist in the Euroleague is not very popular with some coaches due to his constant complaints. Traditionally, Mr. Bartzokas has also received a lot of criticism from the referees this time around.

“Žalgiris” shouted from the bench that the players would commit a foul, because they only had 3 fouls. They tried to insult K. Sloukas, that’s why I complained. The bench received instructions to transgress because they were a “bonus”, the specialist told the media at a press conference.

By the way, until very recently, G. Bartzok himself was on the opposite side of the barricades, as soon as the wrong decision of the judges not to award a foul Alexander Vezenkov In the game against Bayern Munich, the Piraeus club managed to maintain a healthy bag. Subsequently, the Euroleague officially recognized that it was a referee error that may have determined the winner of the match.

You can complain as much as you want, but “Žalgiris” deserved this victory and took it away from the guests.

It didn’t work in this match Marius grigonis For Kaunas, who scored just 6 points, it was the second most unsuccessful game of the season and only the third of 21, in which he did not exceed the double-digit point limit. M. Grigonis showed statistics that were not unique to him: he shot only one two-point, including eight triples, two of which fell and none of the free throws.

It was a poor attacking leader match on its own, but really solid in its pursuit of others. He made 7 successful passes, which is partly due to the excellent connection with J. Lauvergne and Žalgiris’ change in tactics against the exchange defense.

The old cliche this season is that Žalgiris does not want to attack teams that can trade defenses with all five. Until now, Kaunas residents mainly sought solutions in such situations with defenders, but now everything has changed: “Žalgiris” created advantage situations with tall people and simply fed them with balls.

For example, after the break, defenders like Lukas Lekavičius and Rokas Jokubaitiswho haven’t scored a point in the last two quarters.

J. Lauvergne also played a great game, which in the second half of the game got what he wanted in the Greek basket, adding a total of 21 points. In the third quarter alone, the Frenchman scored 11 points when the remaining teammates added just five. Olympiacos also have a useful squad that don’t have the classic midfielders that Lauvergne is struggling with this season.

Not forgetting the solid here too. Augustine’o Rubito, added 10 points (4/5 doubles, 2/2 penalties) and 5 rebounds.

This was the key moment why Žalgiris’s attack mechanism failed to block hard after the Olympiacos club managed to beat Kaunas’s attacking rhythm after the break. The change can also be seen in Lauvergne’s own statistics: before the break he had scored just four points and looked rather weak.

What did you say Martinas schillebeef Before the match, Žalgiris’ victory in this match is very significant. The Piraeus club already had as many victories on their account as green and white, and knowing that the first fight between these teams ended with only a minimal victory for “Žalgiris”, this match on Nemunas Island will have value at the end of the regular season. season. From what we are seeing now, both Žalgiris and Olympiacos will be in the top eight, and if both clubs achieve the same number of victories, it will be M. Schiller’s men who will rank higher now.

Time to look at other teams as well. For example, Istanbul giants Anadolu Efes and Fenerbahce now rank behind the Lithuanian champions in the Euroleague. The latter hasn’t lost in Kaunas after all, and now has only one win less than Žalgiris. Let’s not forget Real Madrid’s Maccabi, who beat Real Madrid on this tour. In addition to Olympiacos, this trio of teams is also winning victories and there is no doubt that they will be at the end of the regular season for the toughest fights.

So in the ongoing race for positions, this victory for Žalgiris is incredibly important.

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