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The NKL, the cover of the VIKINGLOTTO season, will land in Jonava on Saturday, but the league already has the most useful player of the regular season: the MVP award was won by Aurelijus Pukelis, the leader of Šakiai “Vytis”, who surprised more all at once this season and broke personal records.
Aurelijus Pukelis
| MIN: | 25.1 |
| PTS: | 17.31 (71.77%) |
| REB: | 7.57 |
| WHAT: | 1.91 |
| ST: | 1.11 |
| BS: | 0.46 |
| FOR: | 2.23 |
| GM: | 35 |
The 205-centimeter tall forward shone in the brightest colors in the NKL championship and scored an average of 17.1 points in 28 games, rebounded after 7.6 balls, had 1.9 assists, took 1.1 balls. and scored 22.5 profit points.
These indicators were collected by 26-year-old Pukelis to demonstrate impressive accuracy. The tall man reached 73.3 percent. colon and 53.3 percent. triples, which were the best in the NKL.
If the Pukelis season had to be described as a match, it would be a doubles match between Vytis and Kaunas Žalgiris that took place on New Years Eve.
Against the young Žalgiris, Šilališkis organized a real profit: he scored 40 points (17/20 doubles, 1/2 trit., 3/4 penalties), bounced 16 and took 4 balls and scored 54 utility points.
Such a performance became not only the match of Pukelis’ career, but also the best performance of the season among all NKL players. Only Gargždai sniper Mantas Ruikis was able to repeat the 40-point performance, but the record for utility points remained intact.
According to Pukelis, this match is placed on the top shelf of his career achievements.
“Without a doubt, this is the best game of my career,” the basketball player told the BasketNews.lt website. – I haven’t even seen those numbers before. In that game everything went naturally: the same routine, nothing special. Only the first shots fell and I gained confidence. “
Pukelis also proved his MVP form in the last four at Jonava. The tall man threw his injured “Vytis” on his shoulders, and in the small final against Marijampolė’s “Sūduva-Mantinga” he scored 33 points and the Šakiai club, which had only 7 players, was sensationally decorated with bronze medals of the NKL.
After the final game, the mermaids were as happy as if they had won the championship, and when Pukelis recovered the medal and the award for the most useful player of the regular season, his teammates sent him a message.
Basketball players “LKL, LKL”, “Vytis” suggested a high one.
Pukelis himself evaluates his chances at LKL cautiously, but agrees with his teammates: it’s worth a try.
“I wouldn’t like to say firmly that I grew up in NKL jerseys. Your chances need to be judged more carefully. Of course, it would be fun to try to see if I can play there or not, but to say cardinally that the NKL is low for me, I really couldn’t, ”said the NKL bronze medalist.
Pukelis told the BasketNews.lt website about Vytis’ injury-adjusted results, MVP season, teammate contribution, LKL offer, the hole after the New Year, and the challenges of combining trio basketball with NKL. .
– How do you evaluate the team’s performance in the four finalists?
– In the semifinal against “Telšiai” there were many unnecessary mistakes, unusual solutions. We made a lot of weird passes, someone stopped the attack and started improvising, the emotion also changed his leg. We lost to Telšiai by just 4 points and we could really be in the final, but there were injuries. Darjušas Lavrinovičius in the first half flutter foot and injected medication for her brother during the long break. Later it turned out that the leg was broken. Paulius Beliavičius also broke his palm: there are no more 2 players.
“Telšiai” played very patiently and always found the answer to our points. It took some good attacks on defense and we would have made it to the final. Of course, I don’t know what that ending would be. There are seven of us, Jonava: complete lineup, favorite to win everything. I don’t know how long we would have resisted. Overall, I appreciate the team’s performance because we did something impressive for third place in the match.
– You felt free for third place in the match. How much does the lack of pressure open your hands?
– Obviously, all players have separate hands. Both for us and for the young people. However, a good defense should be emphasized. Against such a talented offensive team, we lost just 69 points by landing on every ball. That freedom and the knowledge that you have nothing to lose will open your hands. You run, you throw without thinking too much and everything becomes spontaneous. The teammates supported each other during the last four of the final and led us to good emotions that we drove to the end today.
– In the bronze final, all your eyes were on fire. Did you feel additional motivation from your traumatized teammates?
– Of course, Beliavičius is in the hospital after the operation, Darjušas came to support him as soon as he passed away. When you know all the circumstances, you want to fight for your teammates and die in the field. Before the match with “Sūduva-Mantinga” we focused, although we knew we were not favorites, 4 players got injured, but they really wanted to represent them and give them a medal.
– Do you agree that you wanted more victory than the Marijampol equipo team?
– I don’t think they didn’t want to win, we just caught the wave from the first minutes and continued until the end. Marijampolė’s team was an obvious favorite, but they didn’t really see that they didn’t care. We just played a very good game, we wanted to win even at seven. I noticed that Marijampole’s coach, Povilas Šakinis, was surprisingly calm, but maybe this is his mindset. Hard to say.
– Who do you give this bronze medal to?
– For traumatized teammates and the entire city of Šakiai. Throughout the season, we felt the support of the Scouts, even though they couldn’t come to the game, we always get messages of support that we should keep our hands down and fight.
– You have been voted the most useful player of the regular season. Did you expect to receive such an evaluation?
– I certainly don’t pursue such awards and it would not be acceptable to me, but of course it’s a lot of fun. I would like to thank my team, they found me and fed me the balls. Many things came together, I discovered inner peace, worked hard, and tended to look better every season. It was all, after the New Year until the final four I had a hole, I did not have the strength to flee, but before the final fights in Jonava I met and gave myself completely. For the sake of the evaluation itself, I could have waited a bit for it because the results were good, but I didn’t focus on that at all.
– You mentioned the well you went through after the New Year. What factors led to it?
– It is difficult to say, but it all started when we contracted the coronavirus. I don’t know if it caused more impact or just fatigue. I played a lot of trio basketball last summer and didn’t get much rest, maybe that’s why the body started showing signs of fatigue in January. There was simply no energy in the body. However, I am glad that during the final fights I managed to stand up and play well.
– What does the most useful player award mean to you?
– It would be silly to say it doesn’t mean anything. Of course it was a lot of fun, those good shows added confidence, opened hands, gave freedom not only to me, but also to other players. Of course, the team’s results are the most important, but I could also relate them to myself to some extent.
– What factors led you to have such a successful year?
– To touch. We’re playing the Lavrinovičius brothers for the second season in a row, with Šarūnas Vingelis, Paulis Beliavičius and Marijus Užupis competing in trio tournaments, so the chemistry did its thing. From the locker room to the playground. We understand each other at a glance, raising our eyes. A good game of basketball builds confidence, and confidence is a very important factor. If you believe in your own strength, you can do anything. I also brought the individual dominance of trio basketball, the game three against three helped me learn to create situations and score points. Trio basketball helped me a lot, it toughened me up and taught me to play with more contact, although before I was not such a tough basketball player.
– Before the New Year, you scored 40 points and 54 utility points in the game with the substitutes for Žalgiris. How did you feel that night? Is this the most memorable match of your career?
– Definitely, this is the best game of my career. He hadn’t even seen those numbers before. In that game everything went naturally: the same routine, nothing special. Only the first pitches fell and I gained confidence. The teammates also helped, Paulius Semaška distributed 15 effective passes and 10 of them were dedicated to me. Just look up and Paul understood, the only thing left was to score points. There really wasn’t any exceptional feeling before the game, a regular regular season game.
Photo D.Lukšta
– Did you have offers from top league teams during the season?
– You can go abroad at any time, but there the level is not the highest. During the season, I had an offer from the Prienai CBet team that was competing in LKL when Regimantas Miniotas went to Spain. The game seduced LKL, but I kindly explained that I didn’t want to miss out on the trio basketball team for the Tokyo Olympics and we got on.
– How did you manage to combine the trio tournaments with the NKL season?
– We had 2 trios tournaments during the season. One in December, the other a week ago. Everything was fine, the team leaders agreed on a favorable NKL schedule, they moved several games. Certainly there have been no great difficulties this season. When the world was not affected by the pandemic and people were able to move freely, we had more problems because we competed in trio tournaments almost every weekend and we could only start the NKL season from November.
– Upon receiving the MVP award, the classmates chanted “LKL, LKL”. Are you ready to test yourself at a higher level?
– Since you have not had to deliver the LKL kitchen, it is very difficult to tell. I wouldn’t want to say firmly that I grew up in an NKL jersey. Your chances need to be judged more carefully. Sure, it would be fun trying to see if I can play there or not, but to say cardinally that NKL is low for me, I really couldn’t.
– If you receive an offer from the LKL club, you will have to donate a basketball trio, which has been playing successfully for several years. What are you going to do?
– We’ll see what happens in the summer. You must first enter the quartet, which will represent Lithuania in the Olympic team, and then you will have to win it. Until now it is a matter of time, everything will depend on the circumstances. We have a tough summer ahead of us and we’ll see what it will be like.
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