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Team Kaunas Žalgiris continues to fight for a place in the Euroleague playoffs and will host Milan AX Armani basketball players in round 28.
In qualifying, the situation is so tense that every victory and every failure has enormous significance. AX Armani, who has won 17 times, is in a more comfortable position, but the people of Žalgiris, in case of victory, would reduce the deficit to just 1 win.
The “designers” have never played the playoffs in the new Euroleague format. The best achievement is still the quarter-finals from seven years ago. In general, the balance of wins and losses in the new Euroleague format is negative for four seasons: 44 wins and 74 failures.
AX Armani often turned into a tournament frustration when it had talented players but couldn’t find a recipe for victory. In such cases, everyone blamed the head coach: Jasminas Repeša and Simone Pianigiani, who were unable to lead the team during the new Euroleague format of seasons, received criticism.
Everything began to change when he invited Ettore Messina, who, upon arrival, showed the door to Mike James. The current CSKA Moscow defender is one of the best players in the tournament, but AX Armani has handled his problems without him. It was strange to hear that up until then the team had two different locker rooms and that didn’t really add unity. E.Messina changed the interior of the team and began to pay dividends on the field as well.
Last season, AX Armani still looked disappointing, with 12 wins and 16 failures before the end of the season, but only one win behind the eighth, so they would have fought for the quarterfinals in the remaining 6 rounds. AX Armani likely realized that with last season’s lineup they wouldn’t have knocked down the mountains and the goals are much higher than just making the playoffs, so the pandemic wasted the necessary money.
LeDay’us
AX Armani owner Georgio Armani did not reduce his support and this was reflected on set: Kevin Punter, Zach LeDay, Malcolm Delaney, Shavon Shields, Kyle Hines and Luigi Datome arrived. All of these players together are estimated to cost around $ 5 million. per season without taxes. Not surprisingly, AX Armani was immediately christened a member of the Euroleague Playoffs, and possibly a finalist.
It was not possible to justify his status immediately, and even after the first round, AX Armani had only 9 wins and 8 failures on his account. That means he’s now capturing a streak of 8 wins and only 2 misses that allowed him to rise to the top of the rankings, but he’s still not guaranteed a quarter-final position in this crazy season.
Although the Milan team lost to the Fenerbahche team in Istanbul a few days ago, it was a very high-level basketball performance that fans had to enjoy due to the incredible attack and the realization of opportunities. At such a meeting, both teams were worthy of victory, but it was snatched away by Igor Kokoškov’s army.
AX Armani arrived in Kaunas without two important players: Malcolm Delaney lost for a month, who will return to the park only in the playoffs if Milan play there, and Zach LeDay ends treatment for an injury a few weeks ago. The former Žalgiris was simply unstoppable in the first mutual confrontation, when he scored 20 points and scored 23 utility points.
Even without these two players, the AX Armani has a pretty deep rotation. L. Dome, who did not play in the first mutual confrontation, makes excellent use of his opportunities and records averages of 13.6 points and 17.6 utility points in 24 minutes of play in the three-game period. The Italian hits impressively from distance: 11 shots out of 15 have reached the goal, and the hit of the season also forces opponents to watch him closely: 56.3 percent. (36/64). The classic point of L.Datome is the corner of the square, from where it practically does not disappear.
As Caleb Tarchewski continues to skate, AX Armani has invited Jeremy Evans, who hasn’t played basketball for a year, but could pay off in the future. An athletic center on the field could perform the same defensive functions as Kyle Hines when the top five could apply a substitution defense. Meanwhile, with K. Tarčewski, he has to change his defense schemes.
Now forced to work overtime, Sh.Shields, who plays 31 minutes in a 4-game stretch, scores 15 points and captures 19.8 utility score averages. The forward, who has a Danish passport, has acquired excellent sporting form and is currently the leader of the AX Armani.
E. Messina, who was left without Z. LeDay, recalled that he also has Jeff Brooks in the rotation, who is now on the floor more often than when everyone was healthy. In general, in the “third-fourth number” positions, AX Armani has a very wide selection of players and this is not good news for “Žalgiris”, who has a clear gap in the light edge position.
In addition to M. Delaney, the rotation of defenders on the circuit has decreased slightly and there are practically three players left in two positions: K. Punter, Sergio Rodríguez and Michael Rollas. Andrea Cinciarini and Riccardo Moraschini continue to have experience on the bench, but in a tenacious match, these Italians E. Messina do not throw themselves on the floor and rely on legionaries of greater skill.
AX Armani no longer solves the problem with rebounds – according to this indicator, he is penultimate (30.3 balls per game) and in the duel with the last team (Fenerbahče) he lost the fight under the baskets 20:35. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that the Milanese often use the defense of substitutions and the lower players are under the baskets, making it extremely difficult to catch the ball in front of the opponent’s highs. It’s known that second chances don’t always turn into points, but Žalgiris needs to make the most of them.
The Milan team has strong individual players who, when the team’s game slips, begin to decide everything for themselves, like K. Punter or S.Rodriguez, who can take decisive shots, which in the case of the American also happened in the first round. match. It will be very important for “Žalgiris” to seize the advantage situations: here too will be needed the shots of Marius Grigonis through Moustapha Fall and the tear of the defense of Lukas Lekavičius.
AX Armani is a very balanced team, ranking in the top four in both defense and attack. Without a doubt, this is a top-eight caliber team, actually claiming a spot in the final four, where it could easily even think about the title of champion. In a match, AX Armani can really beat, for example, the Barcelona team.
“Žalgiris” expects extremely strong rivals, but there is nowhere to retreat, because the teams targeting the eight locals do not stop and get victories, and Martin Schiller’s troops expect two consecutive trips to Istanbul and a duel with “Anadolu Efes” and “Fenerbahce”. We will see how we managed to fight with the Milan club on Friday from 8:00 p.m.
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