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The latest radically different results of the teams are perfectly reflected in the Euroleague tuners table. After the first round, Chimki’s team led by Rimas Kurtinaitis has only 2 wins on their account and takes last, 18th place, and Žalgiris, led by Martin Schiller, is 6th with 10 wins.
Chimki tries to get out of the pit in a number of ways: there have been a number of changes to the coaches’ headquarters, club management talks have been organized with basketball players and midfielder Greg Monroe has been fired.
Still, the results have yet to be seen, although a successful match at the VTB United League tournament last weekend brought R. Kurtinaitis good humor. On Sunday, Lokomotiv-Kuban from Krasnodar performed 102: 91 in Chimki.
As in the last Euroleague game, two important Chimki legionaries, Latvian Janis Timma and Swede Jonas Jerebko, did not play in Krasnodar. These traumatized basketball players, like veteran Sergejus Monia, will most likely miss the match in Kaunas.
As this match approached, R. Kurtinaitis mentioned, in his opinion, the strengths of “Žalgiris”.
“Currently, Žalgiris is on the wave. The team plays freely, demonstrates quality offensive basketball, patiently plays the ball and looks for the right person to throw, whether he hits it or not, but they usually find a basketball player. Therefore, they are patient in attack, and in defense “Žalgiris” awaits the mistakes of rivals and punishes them “, – said the Lithuanian.
In the first confrontation between Moscow, Žalgiris achieved a resounding victory of 84:70, but then Chimki was cut off by the coronavirus. As the Euroleague regulations on the disease had not yet been adjusted and the postponement of the match did not seem realistic at the time, the Russian club played “by force”, registered substitutes and was injured. But now it’s just history.
“We know their style of play, they know us perfectly. We couldn’t resist them in the first match because we didn’t have a large part of our lineup. Now there are also problems, but, compared to the start of the season, we are in much better physical shape and we train in full composition for about a month, ”said R. Kurtinaitis.
Kaunas Žalgiris – Chimki, Moscow region
Chimki’s coach pointed out that while playing EuroLeague matches at home, Žalgiris basketball players always had additional support from fans, which Kaunas residents may lack.
“We always remember how difficult it is to fight in Kaunas. One of the factors that favored Žalgiris in Kaunas was the fans, but now he has been eliminated. Seen from the other side,” Žalgiris “always plays hard at home and it won’t be easy for us, “he said.
It should be noted that in the first round, Žalgiris played 6 home games completely without spectators, of which he won exactly half.
Chimki is the worst defending team in the Euroleague this season, allowing competitors to score an average of 89.3 points per game. “Žalgiris”, in turn, is the most accurate team in the tournament, with an average of 53% of the shots in the game. accuracy.
If the undisputed leader of the “Žalgiris” attacks is Marius Grigonis, the name “Chimki” has been inseparable from Alexei Švedas for many years. An experienced Russian defender with solid stats this season (average of 17.8 points, 8.4 assists, 4.2 rebounds, 19 assists per game), but the personal achievements of the team so far which are not guaranteed.
Žalgiris, who has been beaten by the heights of powerful rivals more than once this season, may have trouble with Chimki’s front-line men: Devin Booker and Jordan Mickey. The Russian team leads the tournament in terms of average blocked shots during the match (4), generally better than Žalgiris opponents who fight for bounced balls.
The match between Žalgiris and Chimki starts at 8 pm
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