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The Kaunas “Žalgiris” basketball players demonstrated for the first time this season, including the preparation cycle, the physicality necessary to compete in the Euroleague.
Paulius Jankūnas did not give an inch of pitch easily to Jordan Mickey, Lukas Lekavičius had activated the highest gear not only by breaking through the Zenit St Petersburg defense, but also by not allowing opposing players to easily organize the attack, Joshas Nebo was the last to clear the pitch and fell under his feet, Mantas Kalnietis pressured one of the opponents into a defensive situation.
From the first minutes, Žalgiris responded to Zenit’s physique and during the forty minutes of the match he showed maximum effort not only to thank the ten thousand who gathered at the Žalgiris Arena on Thursday night, but also to achieve the first victory in the Euroleague this season. .
It was not possible to win, but yesterday nobody could blame the basketball players of “Žalgiris” for the lack of effort. Kaunas gave his heart to the field, displayed the best defense this season, and maintained the intrigue until the end of the match, where the winner was determined by individual dominance – the essential attack of the match was completed with a precise shot from Jordan Loyd via Janis Strelniekas. ‘hands, which finally determined the victory of the guests 70:64.
Jananko
A step forward in defense
“Žalgiris” showed the biggest advance in his basket yesterday. If not for the six errors in the first half, which allowed Zenit to add 7 points in the counterattacks, the Kaunas team would have kept the guests to twenty points in the four quarters of this match.
Significantly improved team action was noticed in the one-on-one defense. If previously vulnerable players on the perimeter of “Žalgiris” were often allowed to shoot by their teammates, this time all five took it upon themselves to crack the defense and support each other. Especially J.Nebo, who in the last quarter cleared the penalty area on more than one occasion from the free throws of the Zenit basketball players, having made 3 blocks in total and even increased the trajectories of consecutive shots.
“He has impressive physical data and even when he doesn’t block pitches, he looks threatening before he gets scary to pitch. He is a great pillar in defense “, – Mindaugas Kuzminskas admired rookie” Žalgiris “play after the match.
P.Jankūnas did not lose a single micro fight against J.Mickey – he stopped his opponent both in the penalty area and on the perimeter. The 37-year-old Žalgiris captain started the match in the starting five, played 24 minutes and was an irreplaceable link to his basket, not only dealing with the direct opponent, but also with the timely help and physicality offered to the opponents. . P.Jankūnas bounced almost a third (7) of all Žalgiris’ rebounds under his basket (25).
M. Kalnietis, who stopped both Conner Frankamp and J. Loyd, also looked solid in individual defense this time around. The Kaunas resident made up for the lagging legs with maximum effort by working with his hands and neutralizing the strengths of the aforementioned opponents.
L. Lekavičius also organized a positive performance on defense. Although Loyd and Billy Baron have managed to make some heavy shots through Luke’s raised hands, his overall defensive contribution can be seen in a positive light. He repeatedly made Baron’s throws much more difficult, he was hooked and furious again, not allowing his opponents to organize the attack. As it happened when “Žalgiris” was trained by Šarūnas Jasikevičius.
Edgar Ulanov had a harder time keeping opponents ahead, but Mateušas Ponitka’s forays through Žalgiris were more a consequence of M. Schiller’s defensive rule of not allowing in the middle. “Žalgiris” sacrifices steals at the goal line to protect the penalty area. There, M.Ponitka repeatedly encountered J.Nebo and others who defended the basket from easy Polish points.
It is very important that Žalgiris finally emerged, who recalled the importance of tactical fouls for a quality defense. In the first quarter, T.Cavanaugh violated without expecting anything, when he lost the microduel to B.Baron, at the beginning of the last quarter L.Lekavičius and P.Jankūnas wisely violated the rules.
Martin Schiller also saw the progress of self defense after the match, noting that during the second half of the match, the Kaunas players spent just 6 points from isolation situations in their own basket.
“We lost only six points in isolation situations, when in the first half – 15”, M. Schiller was happy with a good defense against one.
Paradoxically, the most important throw-in of the match, with 27 seconds remaining, was J. Loydas attacking from isolation, attacking through J.Strelniekas. At such times, “Žalgiris” lacks a person who can be entrusted with the supervision of the leaders on the perimeter of the rivals.
Ulanovas
The role of E. Ulanov in the attack.
E.Ulanovas played another blank game in attack, scoring two triples, but nothing more significant on the floor in 30 minutes.
Schiller tried again to use the forward Pikenrolo situations, but this time completely in vain. Already in the first quarter, E. Ulanov made a mistake in a situation of “two against two”, then he did not gain any advantage, and in the second quarter the picture did not change. The forward made only 1 effective pass and lost the 3 colonies thrown.
He also did not wait for the coach to give him the combination to play. in the tendril.
With Žalgiris very absent from the perimeter of his work, M. Schiller still does not want to use the reserve in front of his nose. E. Ulanov’s game in the tendril bring variety to the team’s attack and additional opportunities to build an attacking advantage.
At the same time, you would feel much more comfortable on the field than you are now, when you are forced to do things you do not know.
Not surprisingly, Žalgiris, who spends the most minutes (almost 29) on the field, is so far one of the most inefficient players on the team, earning 6 points each (1/6 double, 3/7 trit., 1/5 penalty), bounces 1.5 ball, makes 1.5 assists and accumulates 3.5 utility points.
Mudiay
A reservation that can be expensive
If the most intentional use of E. Ulanov is a reservation that “Žalgiris”, or more precisely M. Schiller, can control, then the non-functionality of Emmanuel Mudiay is what the residents of Kaunas will be forced to accept, at least for the moment. be.
The main organizer of the “Žalgiris” attacks and the man who was supposed to become the leader of the attack are taking down the team rather than creating added value in the game.
“Žalgiris” started the match again with E.Mudiay in the starting five. Once again, the image was identical to that of the duel with Wilerban ASVEL: the African is distracted, looking for spaces to shoot away from the mid-range, instead of organizing an attack and trying to involve his teammates in the game.
Schiller again could not trust E.Mudiay, who was only 12 minutes on the field. Again, the attack by “Žalgiris” was revived only by organizing it for L.Lekavičius, who was the only one of the defenders who could constantly enter the penalty area and from there create a game for his teammates or end his advances with marks. . Floateriais.
The 64 points obtained were an expression of the attack on the main problem of Žalgiris: there is no one to create. If L. Lekavičius is not on the parquet or feels tired, the attack of the Kaunas residents becomes absolutely ineffective.
There is no one to hang passes to Joffrey Lauvergene and J. Nebo going down to the basket, no one to create opportunities for pitchers Niels Giffey, T. Cavanaugh or J. Strelniek, no one to break the first line of defense, especially if the barriers high are of poor quality. M. Kalnietis finds excellent teammates perfectly, but due to his speed characteristics, he is not able to initiate defensive rotations on his own, to fulfill the most important conditions for an effective attack.
“Žalgiris” has put together a team that can shoot a lot of 3-pointers, but no one believes them. In the duel with Zenit, they were attacked from a distance only 18 times, two shots less than the average of last season in the Euroleague.
After the match with Pasvalys’ Milk Stars, M. Schiller hoped that E.Mudiay’s help would have to wait until December. A few days later, Paulius Motiejūnas, the Žalgiris manager, emphasized that he wanted to fight for the Euroleague playoffs.
The two statements contradict each other, because if Žalgiris waits for E. Mudiay until December, the fight for relegation will end in January.
Next week, Žalgiris will face Belgrade’s Crvena Zvezda, which left Tel Aviv’s Maccabi with 63 points and Istanbul’s Fenerbahche with 61, and Piraeus’s Olympiacos, which allowed Vitoria’s Baskonia to scrape just 50.
The non-working Žalgiris attack will be put to the test as it has not been this season.
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