Farewell: Žalgiris, who was on fire in the attack, ended the Euroleague season with a landslide / News

Kaunas “Žalgiris” (17-17) in 2020-2021. The Euroleague ended the season victorious and finished eleventh in the final standings.

Martin Schiller’s pupils in the last regular season game 93:78 (27:14, 25:33, 22:13, 19:18) beat the Athenian Panathinaikos (11-21).

“Congratulations to the men for the victory and the 17 achievements we can be proud of,” Schiller said at a news conference. – I’m proud of that. It was a great season, I wanted us to have a feeling of a butterfly in our stomach in the last game, but that’s how it is.

The fateful break in the game came after a long break. Karolis Lukošiūnas scored two three points in a row, Thomas Walkup added his long shot, Martin Geben scored points from under the basket and Žalgiris’s victory was crowned 17: 3 by a long shot from Paulius Jankūnas, after which Žalgiris’s team managed a goal. Advantage of 17 points – 69:52.

The “Panathinaikos” led by Nemanja Nedovičius still tried to hang and had reduced the gap to 12 points, but Walkup scored two points, Lukas Lekavičius hung the ball to Geben, and Rokas Jokubaitis scored a 3-pointer and Žalgiris’ victory did not hesitate – 82:63.

Walkup was the best player for Žalgiris, who scored 18 points (6/6 dvit., 2/5 trit.) In 25.5 minutes, he made 5 assists, bounced 4 and took 2 balls, provoked 6 fouls, made 2 errors. And he scored 29 utility points.

29 utility scores – a repeated American career record.

“Today we can be proud of the men, because looking at the five we had and the Panathinaikos, our chances were not high,” said Schiller. – The most important thing was the fight for the balls, which we won against the second best fighting team. It shows the struggle of our men. We stopped them on defense in the second half and that was the most important thing. “

Man of the match

The meeting was also started with more success by the hosts. Jokubaitis noticed the fines, Patricio Garino, who scored two triples, scored 8 points in a row and after the first quarter, Žalgiris had a double-digit lead – 27:14.

However, led by three-pointers by Mario Hezonja and Nemanja Nedovičius, Panathinaikos rallied in the second half and went to a long break with a 5-point deficit (47:52).

Most of them thought before tonight’s match whether it would be the last match of the Jankūnas Euroleague career, but the captain of “Žalgiris” confirmed that he will extend his career for one more season.

“I was calm last month because the decision was refined,” Jankūnas told a news conference. “This week we talked to Paulius Motiejūnas, put the accents together and decided that I would play and stay in the locker room one more year, where they need me the most until now.”

The forward scored 7 points tonight (2/4 dvit., 1/1 trit.), Caught 7 balls, made 3 assists, blocked the pitch, made a mistake and scored 15 utility points.

“It just came to our attention then. – Schiller remembered the dialogue with Jankūnas. – This is his club and people must understand it. The importance of Jankūnas is enormous and everything was in his hands. Personally, I am happy that he continues to play.”

“He gives us the experience of the Euroleague, he throws three points in the highest percentage of his entire career. Paul supports the whole team together and is the face of “Žalgiris”, so I am very happy, “added the head of” Žalgiris “coach.

Marius Grigonis also said goodbye to “Žalgiris” in the Euroleague, who will leave for CSKA Moscow next summer.

The defender scored 6 points (1/1 double, 1/5 trit, 1/1 penalty), 5 assists, 3 interceptions and 1 rebound, 2 errors and 8 utility points in 19 minutes.

Žalgiris: Lukas Lekavičius 20 (5/5 diat., 3/5 trit., 19 uses), Thomas Walkupas 18 (6/6 diat., 2/5 trit., 29 uses), Rokas Jokubaitis 10 (1/5 dvit .., 2/3 trit.).

Panathinaikos: Nemanja Nedovičius 17 (4/5 trit., 21 uses), Ben Bentilas 13 (3/3 trit.), Zach Auguste and Ioannis Papapetrou 9 each.

Schiller’s comment:

Jankūnas comment:

Comment from Blaževičius: