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Photo: BNS
BNS photo
The big holidays of the year are approaching and Betsafe-LKL fans will receive a memorable gift this weekend: the battle of the championship leaders.
Two league matches will be played over the weekend, with the central one taking place in Kaunas on Sunday, where the reigning national champion and tournament leader Kaunas “Žalgiris” will travel to Panevėžys and attempt to break the “Lietkabel” in second place.
We invite you to watch the live broadcast of the match starting at 5 pm on the BTV channel and on LKL.lt.
With this confrontation, both teams will end a long and exhausting week, this will be the third match of both teams in seven days.
“Žalgiris” scored two Euroleague victories, while Panevėžys basketball players ended their performance in this season’s European Cup with victory and defeat.
Can physical fatigue become a major factor in Sunday’s games? Lietbabelis captain Vytenis Lipkevičius believes that this should not make a significant difference.
“Physical fatigue means something to each other, but you go, you play, and that fatigue will be felt more after the game. You play against “Žalgiris”, so there is always that additional motivation, desire. If they hadn’t played or played a game and we had three, then maybe the difference would be.
At this stage, each team has more or less problems, injuries, illnesses, etc., but there is no need to emphasize it, go, do your job and everything, ”said basketball player LKL.lt.
The series of victories for one of these teams will also end on Sunday; both teams have currently won seven games in a row and are the hottest teams in the championship.
Panevėžys ‘team last lost in the Betsafe-LKL championship in September, while Žalgiris’ series of victories began in late September, when Lietkabel lost in the first battle of the season.
This time in Kaunas the guests played the second half of the match to perfection and defeated Žalgiris 72:61.
Asked about what Žalgiris was like at the time and what is the current stage of the season, Lipkevičius emphasized the improvement of the champions’ game and a better understanding of the ideas of coach Martin Schiller.
“It is difficult to compare what it was at the beginning of the season and now it is difficult for all teams to play a little differently. “Žalgiris” is now better played, after understanding the coach a bit, he plays more freely. At first, they were on one more search path, and now that they have identified good places, the last few games are really playing well, there is an increase and so on.
We won our first match, well, that’s it, now is a new day and we’ll see how things will turn out ”, V. Lipkevičius did not highlight the victory in the first match.
Lietkabelis recently had to face two of the three teams from the last four of the season and these obstacles were confidently overcome: both Klaipėda Neptūnas and Vilnius Rytas were defeated.
According to Lipkevičius, despite the victories achieved, the team is still a bit below top form, and Djordje Gagičius, a newcomer to the team, should contribute to that.
“You always think that the optimal shape can be more optimal. I think we are definitely not in optimal form yet, because the new man Gagičius is still coming in, when he reaches his best form both in the team and personally, we will take a step forward. And now we are working and trying to get in better shape as a team ”, shared the interlocutor.
Serbian Gagičius, who replaced outgoing midfielder Marinas Maričius, made his debut in Lithuania on the rise: in two games he scored 12.5 points, bounced 4 balls and accumulated 10 utility points.
When asked what the team’s rookie can give Lietkabelius, Lipkevičius spoke about the fight under the basket, which is the strongest part of the rookie game.
“A person comes in, has one or two training sessions and sees his potential. Maybe now somewhere slower, maybe still with a bit of a lack of stamina, but he’s a person who really understands basketball, reads it well, and can play.
There are physical data that will definitely give us strength under the basket. It will definitely be useful, more precisely, it is already useful, but when it reaches its optimal form, it will be a force that will open the hands and everyone else, ”commented the Lietkabelis captain on the possible influence of the newcomer in the team’s game.
It will be one of the two Betsafe-LKL Championship matches this weekend. The next one will take place on Saturday in Alytus – here the venue “Dzūkija” will host the basketball players from Prienai “CBet”.
The game will be broadcast live from 5:00 p.m. on BTV TV and LKL.lt.
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