After the clash at home – Žalgiris / News, he fought strong and strong

Photo: intime.gr

Photo: intime.gr

Photo: intime.gr

Photo: intime.gr

Photo: intime.gr

Kaunas “Žalgiris”, unable to regain a full quarter of the ball from under his basket, caught it when he needed it most. And this was not done by anyone but the smallest and youngest former Žalgiris in the square.

In the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, Marius Grigonis burst into the penalty area, launching a difficult shot that didn’t even touch the goal. However, Rokas Jokubaitis caught the ball after a corner kick and threw it to Vassilis Spanoulis who had the entire net open before him but only managed to hit the post.

The referee’s whistle immediately captured the moment and the talent of the nineteen-year-old “Žalgiris” had a chance to snatch victory from him in the season opener.

There were nerves, but both fines, 3.5 seconds before play, broke the net and Žalgiris triumphed in the empty Peace and Friendship Sports Pavilion in Piraeus.

“I have never had a situation in my life where two (my) tickets led me to victory,” Jokubaitis told the BasketNews.lt website immediately after the match. – Maybe I shot when there was a point advantage, but such a situation has never happened before.

Psychologically it was definitely a test, but I felt the support of the bank, everyone came, they calmed down, they said “you can”. I believed in my strength, I did not shake that hand and I am very happy. “

This capped the best performance of Jokubaitis’ career in the Euroleague – he played the most productive (12 points) and most useful (15 points) match of his short career.

The two rebounds on the attack were also a career record, and in this case, this naked number also hides a great story.

Man of the match

Effective transfers

4

“Thank goodness Rock saved me and now you probably won’t write that I lost the game,” Grigonis smiled after the game.

Grigonis, who played the most (15 points) and more (32 minutes) at Žalgiris, admitted that according to the plan of the last attack, the ball had to find Joffrey Lauvergne, who crossed to the basket, but there was no normal opportunity to assist him .

The defender then decided to play alone, but overcoming Aaron Harrison’s defense was not easy.

Seeing a struggling teammate, Jokubaitis crossed under the basket.

“I saw we didn’t know what to do, there were only a few seconds left, I thought about hanging up, maybe I would get a pass,” Jokubaitis said. – I was lucky that the throw did not touch the arc, I recovered and somewhere I threw something. I darkened my eyes and whistled the ticket. “

He stood up to throw the biggest pitches of his career after a minute break from Olympiacos strategist Georgios Bartzok.

Maybe after the break it’s better to calm down, Jokubaitis thought. – And if we had to throw right after the whistle, we have a plan if we lose or shoot. Maybe it’s better when we agree and settle down. “

After two exact penalties, Bartzok took another minute off, but after that, Olympiac’s attack was useless. Kostas Sloukas, who often takes advantage of his speed, had a bad day due to the muddy pitch.

Overall, although Sloukas scored 7 assists, Žalgiris ‘defense left him with 6 points, hitting 2 shots out of 6. Žalgiris changed everything in defense after Sloukas’ two-on-two game, and also put special pressure on the penalty area. penalty, leaving more free corners of the field. .

Olympiakos scored three points early in the match, but missed all 8 long shots in the fourth quarter and finished with 33%. precision (8/24).

“In the last quarter, we only allowed the opponent to score 9 points, which was the most important thing to snatch the victory,” Schiller emphasized after the duel.

Those 9 points, even without picking up balls under the basket. Midway through the quarter, “Žalgiris” even allowed opponents to create second chances on 5 occasions, when seemingly impossible balls fell into the hands of the reds instead of the whites.

At one point, when the ball finally managed to recover, Lauvergne flew over the edge with it, giving opponents a sixth second chance in 4 minutes.

“Sometimes when you’re fighting for the ball, you wait badly, you don’t think about where the ball will land,” Schiller said. – It really wasn’t a lack of combativeness. I think it’s just an open man or a bad time. “

“If we did everything perfectly, we would win more easily,” smiled Lauvergne, who scored 13 points and scored 3 balls. “I’m not sure I have to watch the video, I have to talk to the coach, but when we start trading (defenders), there is an advantage under the basket (for opponents).”

It was not the most beautiful match, but the communication of “Žalgiris” fascinated from the first to the last minute.

Playing in the empty arena of Piraeus, everything sounded much better than under normal conditions and the people of Žalgiris stood out a lot in front of their opponents.

From the first minutes, the substitute bench for Žalgiris was alive, commenting, supporting and encouraging the teammates who were on the field, communicating constantly and loudly in defense. It was a big difference from Olympia, who played a lot less talking.

The “Žalgiris” bench was so active that even the judges had to calm down.

“The judges went to reassure us a couple of times,” Jokubaitis smirked. – We help the team from the bench, there are no fans, you can hear everything. But it could be better, that’s what we’re working on. “

It was a different Žalgiris than 5 days ago in Kaunas, in a match with Lietkabelis. Then, falling into the pit, they dropped their hands and lost 61:72 at home.

This time, after three halves, Kaunas was 47:58 behind, but won the decisive section of the game 21: 9. It was an aggressive Žalgiris, throwing 5 fines during the quarter, the same as in the first three quarters. The game also attacked the best of the match – 7 accurate shots out of 15.

“We repeat about energy, about the need to fight,” Grigonis said. – In the end there was not as much tactic as we really wanted. It was -11 and Rubit hit after Pikenpopo, we defended, we made contact, that’s how we arrived “.

“Here we not only won, but we also returned to the game, that was the most important thing,” continued Grigonis. – We just gave up on Lietkabel, nobody wanted to play. The most important thing is that we did not give up, we believed in each other and that is the most important thing for me today ”.