November empty: “Žalgiris” loses in the Euroleague for the fifth time in a row / News

Photo: BNS

Photo: BNS

Photo: BNS

Photo: BNS

Photo: BNS

Kaunas “Žalgiris” (5-6) finished the Euroleague in November without a single victory.

Martin Schiller’s students at home 75:83 (15:23, 17:22, 19:21, 24:17) landed in the Zenit team (6-2) of St. Petersburg and suffered their fifth consecutive defeat.

“It’s a bit negative because all the pros want to win,” Schiller said of the team’s psychological state after the failure. – Nothing is better than victory. At the same time, the core of the team is very stable and experienced. Both in the team sense and psychological. People like Jankis, Thomas Walkup, Marius hold their heads high and this group will not break. I sincerely believe it. “

“Žalgiris” fell into the pit in the second half. KC Rivers and Kevin Pangos each scored three points, Andrei Zubkov scored 4 points in a row and Zenit’s lead increased to 14 points – 33:19.

Žalgiris’ team held out for the rest of the quarter and did not allow their opponents to increase their lead and faced the long break with a deficit of 13 points (32:45).

Still at the pace of a hurricane in the third quarter, Zenit decided to end the duel. Austin Hollins, Pangos, Will Thomas and Mateusz Ponitka each scored a triple in under three minutes, Zenit accelerated 12: 2 and took a breakable lead of 57:34.

Shortly thereafter, Pangos scored two points and Zenit’s lead reached a record 25 points (59:34).

After such a blow, Žalgiris starred in his 17: 7 streak, after which the deficit dropped to 15 points, and at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Joffrey Lauvergne took the ball, charged it from above and cut Žalgiris’ lag to 10 points ( 58:68).

Before the last minute of the match, Marius Grigonis took the two penalties and brought Žalgiris close by 6 points (76:81). However, Zenit confidently played the most important moments of the match, maintained their lead and achieved their third victory in a row.

“The 13-point deficit after two halves did not feel like a 13-point deficit,” Schiller said at a news conference after the loss. – There were things we could control to return to the game. In the second half, we dug a hole again for ourselves and then we dug again. But the well was too deep for us to get out of it completely. “

“In the last 16 minutes we won 41:26 and we did well on defense, which allowed us to recover in attack. We don’t care about our attack. Still, those pits are a problem that we have to fight to give ourselves a chance to win, ”added the Žalgiris strategist.

The most useful player of the Žalgiris team was Grigonis, who scored 18 points (1/3 double, 4/4 trit., 4/4 penalty) in 30 minutes, provided 3 assists, rebounded and seized 1 ball, provoked 4 fouls. He once made a mistake and scored 22 utility points.

“The match was never as successful as the last three,” said Jankūnas, who scored 6 points and grabbed 5 balls after the match. – Same mistakes, before we were 30 points behind and only then did we start playing. That is the biggest problem “.

The Žalgiris captain was also disappointed after the game with the team’s work on defense.

“Everyone in the Euroleague is professional and highly skilled players. Maybe not everything goes to anticipation, but team communication has to be. Maybe something is simply lacking focus, responsibility. Something is missing, something is missing. If you are weaker, you can be defeated one by one, but team defense is the job of the five basketball players, we have to help each other.

And after losing so many games … An offense can win the games of the others, and the defense has won many games. The more you lose, the stronger the defense must be. But so far we are not doing it somehow, “said Jankūnas.

Zenit forward Artūras Gudaitis scored 6 points (1/2 double, 4/4 penalty), 2 rebounds and 1 interception and 10 utility points in 18 minutes.

The guest team leader was Austin Hollins, who scored 20 points (3/7 dvit., 3/4 trit., 5/5 penalty), rebounded and took 1 ball, made 1 effective pass, made an error and scored 19 utility points. .

„Žalgiris“: Marius Grigonis 18 (4/4 trit.), Joffrey Lauvergne’as 17 (7/9 dvit., 8 atk. Kam.), Augustine’as Rubitas 12 (5/6 dvit.).

Zenith: Austin Hollins 20 (3/7 diat., 3/4 trit.), Will Thomas 16 (3/7 dvit.), Kevin Pangos 13 (3/4 trit., 7 res.), Alex Poythressas 11.

Match summary:

Martin Schiller’s comment:

Comment from Xavi Pascual:

Comment from Paulius Jankūnas:

Comment from Joffrey Lauvergne:

Joffrey Lauvergne performance:

Austin Hollins performance: