Second semi-final of the KMT tournament: Kaunas “Žalgiris” – Klaipeda “Neptune”

Several Kaunas national basketball champions “Žalgiris” won the third King Mindaugas Cup in the last Klaipėda fortress “Švyturys” a year ago, crushing Vilnius “Rytas” in the final.

All five times Kaunas has played in the final of the tournament, where he has stumbled twice, but this year there is no doubt that Kaunas will once again lift the champion cup.

We remind you that in the KMT “Žalgiris” quarterfinals the total advantage of 42 points swept Pasvalys “Pienovaigždės”.

The “Neptūnas” basketball players gained a solid 15-point lead in the first match against “Šiauliai”, but hardly wasted it at home, losing by 11 points and taking a ticket to the four finalists of the KMT tournament.

For the port city team, this is the fourth final four of the KMT. Three times they were fourth and once, in 2016, “Neptūnas” won bronze medals.

The course of the match

After II halves: Kaunas „Žalgiris“ – Klaipėda „Neptūnas“ 38:35 (15:21, 23:14)

20 minutes. J. Lauvergne’s impressive first half of the match was 18 points and “Žalgiris” ‘s fragile lead was 38:35.

19 min. E.Šaulys compares the result (34:34).

18 min. Euroleague mode kicks in gradually. Kaunas defense is getting stronger and stronger, and Th.Walkupas leads them for the first time (34:31).

17 min. The French solo continues, and even S. Galdik fails to stop the stop (29:31). Joffrey scored nearly half of the team’s points (14 of 29).

15 minutes. The Kaunas are increasingly active in the attack: J. Lauvergne is pulling his carriage, which has already scored 10 points (25:29).

13 min. Representatives of the port city seem motivated to bite the opponents. Other alley-oop’as – M. Jogėlis is stopped only for a foul by A. Rubitas (19:27).

12 min. E.Šaulys scratches the opponents defense and presents the ball to B.Griciūnas as if at a plate. “Žalgiris” also scores points, but once again we have to speak loudly of “Neptūnas” loudly, who again shakes the basket (19:25).

After the first half: Kaunas “Žalgiris” – Klaipėda “Neptūnas” 15:21

10 minutes. The solid half of the residents of Klaipeda are crowned by the strong launch of A. Sidarevičius, something unexpected against “Neptūnas” (15:21).

9 min. Exciting episodes abound at the start of the game. Hayes was ready to score a double point in a quick attack, but the ball thrown by the American was taken by the flyer M. Jogėla (15:19).

8 min. The response to the outbreak is with an outbreak: “Neptune” ahead 19:13.

7 min. After a minute of rest, Th.Walkup rubs and hits the triple. A. Rubitas adds two points and leaves almost nothing out of the opponents (13:14).

6 min. Woof! The residents of Kaunas are attacking, but they cannot return to the defense: the residents of Klaipėda, who quickly switched to the attack, create a beautiful “ground-to-air” attack, on top of which stands B.Griciūnas (8:14 ).

5 minutes. Kaunas residents obviously take a chance with Ž.Janavičius, who shoots the third 3-pointers, but this time he hits it (6:10).

4 min. “Žalgiris” wakes up – J. Lauvergne grabs the ball and pushes it from above in a quick attack (6: 7).

2 minutes. N.Giga increases “Neptune” lead to seven. J.Lauvergne (2: 7) finally reaches Žalgiriai’s points count after a shot from mid-range.

1 minute. Klaipėda residents perform two attacks in a row in the attack and convert the second chance to points (0: 4).

Kaunas starts the match with Thomas Walkup, Marius Grigonis, Artūrs Milaknis, Nigel Hayes and Joffrey Lauvergne.

Five “Neptūnas”: Žygimantas Janavičius, Evaldas Šaulys, Džiugas Slavinskas, Norbertas Giga and Simas Galdikas.