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But if Artūras Gudaitis and Zenit of Saint Petersburg moved towards the goal, then the goal of Rask Giedraitis and Vitorija “Baskonia” moved away.
Žalgiris
Although Kaunas “Žalgiris” left for Bavaria after missing the opportunity to enter the playoffs, the team did not lose the desire to fight for another victory. Kaunas did their best to thwart Bayern Munich’s plans in the 33rd round, but on Thursday in one of the toughest games of the season they recognized a minimal lead of 70:71 over their rivals.
In all matches, the difference was only once more than 5 points (Bayern led 63:56 at the beginning of the fourth quarter), and the leading team changed 17 times. The efforts of “Žalgiris” were annihilated by Bayern striker Vladimir Lučičius, who became the hero of the match. He hit two free throws in the closing seconds and blocked Joffrey Lauvergne’s shot.
Artūras Milaknis and Augustine Rubitas could not play for the Kaunas team, so the twelfth was the same as in the match played on Tuesday. There were seven Lithuanian basketball players in the app, but Marekas Blaževičius spent the entire match on the bench.
The six Lithuanians who played scored 30 points. Lukas Lekavičius scored 10 points, Paulius Jankūnas and Marius Grigonis – 5 each, Karolis Lukošiūnas and Rokas Jokubaitis – 4 each, Martinas Gebenas – 2.
Two Germans signed up for the Munich team, but only Paul Zipser (2 points) played.
Situation
With just one round left in the regular season, six teams have clinched the playoffs: Barcelona (24 wins), CSKA Moscow, Anadolu Efes from Istanbul (22 each), Olympia from Milan, Bayern Munich and Fenerbahçe from Istanbul (after 20). . Barcelona, CSKA and Anadolu Efes, led by Šarūnas Jasikevičius, have already secured a lead in the quarter-final series.
Real Madrid (19), Zenit de Saint Petersburg, Baskonia de Vitoria and Valencia (18 each) play the last two innings.
The Saint Petersburg team played two home games with Tel Aviv’s Makabi and Athens’ Panathinaikos. The last match will take place after the other teams have played the 34th round match.
Real will face Fenerbahçe in the final round next week, and Valencia and Baskonia will meet in Valencia.
Žalgiris will play the last game of the regular season next Thursday (April 8) at home with Athens Panathinaikos. The Athens team won 11 of 31 matches and was ranked 15th, but in this round they managed to defeat Milan Olimpia at home by 86:83 (after extra time; M.Hezonja 17, B.Bentil 16, I.Papapetrou and G.Papagiannis after 14) and broke the chain of three defeats.
Žalgiris, who won 16 of 33 matches, is in eleventh place.
Legionnaires
For fourth place in the quarter-final series, Fenerbahçe Istanbul played again without Edgar Ulanov on Friday and lost to Barcelona 73:82 at home.
The Istanbul team took a small lead, but their situation was compounded by the fact that two leaders, Janas Vesely and Nando De Colo, were unable to finish the match due to injuries. Taking advantage of this, Barcelona firmly took the initiative in the last quarter, expanding distances and crediting a new victory.
Zenit St. Petersburg took a big step towards the quarter-finals, crushing Wilerban’s ASVEL team 87:53 at home on Friday. Artūras Gudaitis scored 13 points.
The teams played evenly before the break, but in the third half, Zenit abruptly increased their lead from 4 points (41:37) to 22 points (63:41) and could not worry about victory.
Vaskija’s “Baskonia” fell in a dramatic battle on Thursday, falling at home to Istanbul’s Anadolu Efes 101: 111. Rokas Giedraitis scored 21 points, Tadas Sedekerskis – 2.
Vitorian basketball players chased the guests almost all the time, who had gained a 15-point lead in the second half. Only in the final quarter did the hosts finally get ahead, but soon Anadolu Efes re-weighed the result and Baskonia escaped defeat to Luca Vildoza, who scored a three-point point just before the siren. However, he briefly postponed the opponents’ victory: during extra time, the Istanbul team played much better.
Lithuanians
Rokas Giedraitis. Baskonia’s starting five did not hit a triple in the first attack and could not adapt by attacking from distance in almost every game, the only triple in the fifth attempt in the 36th minute. Although R. Giedraitis scored the first points only in the minute 23, posed a great threat to his opponents until then.
The Lithuanian fought often and, drawing the attention of the opponents, threw the ball to a freer teammate, and in the second half of the match he shot from a medium distance or under the basket and hit all two points. R.Giedraitis in 37 min. he scored 21 points (7/7 from two points, 1/5 from three points, 4/4 from penalties), bounced 4 balls, made 3 assists and committed 4 fouls.
Artūras Gudaitis. The Zenit midfielder, who was admitted to the pitch midway through the first half, was not entirely focused at first and committed two fouls quite quickly, but played successfully both two-on-two and one-on-one. A. Gudaitis, who surely scored the rivals’ firewalls, racked up almost one point per minute. He played 14.5 minutes, scored 13 points (4/6 colonies, 5/6 penalties), caused 4 fouls and committed 3 fouls.
Lukas Lekavičius. For L. Lekavičius, the beginning of this match was like a continuation of the previous one. He hit the field with a triple as soon as he entered the field and scored 8 points in the second half of the first half alone. However, in the second half, the defender lost his head a bit and was quickly placed on a bench to cool down, and in the middle of the third he received a technical foul for performance. In the middle of the fourth quarter, the best version of L. Lekavičius returned.
It is true that he no longer scored points in the second half of the game, but he played with precision. Except in the last minute, when the team lost the ball by a point up front. L. Lekavičius in 22.5 minutes. he scored 10 points (2/6 two points, 2/2 three points), made 5 assists and made 3 errors. The defender made all 7 long shots this week.
Paulius Jankūnas. In the opening minutes, the striker, who started the match in the first five matches, was turned upside down by the taller and sharper rivals holding the “Žalgiris” penalty area. After the break, P.Jankūnas played much more reliably, but contributed insignificantly to the team’s attack. It takes 22 minutes. scored 5 points (1/1 of two points, 1/2 of three points), bounced 4 balls and committed 3 fouls.
Marius Grigonis. The leader of “Žalgiris” played much more aggressively than on Tuesday. Although he missed the first two shots (in an attack, by the way), he quickly hit the first triple. However, Grigonis’ hands weren’t strong and most of his shots, even from good positions, missed the mark. Defender in 30 minutes. he scored 5 points (1/5 of two points, 1/5 of three points), made 5 assists and caused 4 fouls. M. Grigonis missed the 10-point limit for the seventh time this season and in the second straight game. Its average is 13.7 points.
Tadas Sedekerskis. Although the small errors are not typical of him, this time the Baskonia starter five did not avoid them. He often lost a covered opponent and did not assess the situation in the attack. T.Sedekerskis received the fourth foul late in the third quarter and left the field during extra time due to the fifth foul. He played for 21 minutes. and obtained 2 points (1/4 of two points, 0/1 of two points).
Rokas Jokubaitis. The young defender sometimes played indecisively, his actions were often innumerable. The reflection of all the games was the episode at the end of the third quarter, when R. Jokubaitis did not shoot below the basket in a fast attack. Žalgirietis played 13.5 minutes. and obtained 4 points (2/5 two points).
Karolis Lukošiūnas. In the second half, K. Lukošiūnas successfully completed two attacks, but played quite briefly and did not have a significant impact on the team’s attack. It takes 6 minutes. scored 4 points (1/1 of three points, 1/2 penalty).
