2019-20Regular SeasonRound 3
Zalgiris Kaunas 86
Real Madrid 73
October 17, 2019 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 ZALGIRIO ARENA

LeDay leads Zalgiris to first win

Zalgiris Kaunas registered its first win of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season by downing Real Madrid 86-73 in front of a sellout crowd of 15,109 at Zalgirio Arena on Thursday. Zalgiris improved to 1-2 in the standings, while Real dropped to 2-1. Zach LeDay led the winners with 26 points plus 9 rebounds. Nigel Hayes added 15 points, Marius Grigonis 13 and Edgaras Ulanovas scored 10 for Zalgiris. Anthony Randolph paced Real with 15 points. Hayes started the game on fire with 10 quick points, which allowed Zalgiris to take an 18-15 lead after 10 minutes. LeDay and Grigonis stepped up for the hosts after that to lead Zalgiris to a 38-34 halftime edge. Fabien Causeur and Randolph changed things after the break and a three-pointer by Facu Campazo gave Real its first lead, 47-48. The visitors extended their margin to 57-60 at the end of the third quarter, but Zalgiris improved its defense in the fourth quarter, while Ulanovas and an unstoppable LeDay made the difference in crunch time.

Hayes got Zalgiris going with a couple of three-pointers, a layup and a floater, good for a 10-2 Zalgiris lead. Randolph stepped up with a power layup and a triple, but Thomas Walkup and an unstoppable Hayes kept Zalgiris ahead, 14-7. Nico Laprovittola rescued Real with a floater and a three-pointer, but Ulanovas hit a jumper and LeDay dunked for an 18-15 Zalgiris edge after 10 minutes. LeDay and Paulius Jankunas each downed a jumper early in the second quarter, but Jordan Mickey kept Real close, 22-19. Grigonis followed a floater with a triple and got help from Jankunas to give the hosts a 29-21 lead. Jaycee Carroll struck from beyond the arc and a fastbreak layup by Gabriel Deck caused Zalgiris to call timeout at 33-28. Carroll scored in penetration and Rudy Fernandez made it a 1-point game. LeDay and a three-pointer by Jock Landale helped Zalgiris to a 38-34 edge at halftime.

Hayes swished his third bomb from downtown soon after the break and Grigonis added a driving layup, but Causeur singlehandedly brought Real within 43-38. Grigonis scored again and Landale added a huge dunk, but Real kept finding good shots at the other end. Jeffery Taylor and Campazzo each buried a triple and Causeur added a driving layup in a 0-10 run that gave Real its first lead, 47-50. Alex Perez rescued the hosts with a jumper and a three-pointer that gave Zalgiris a 55-52 edge. Randolph and Sergio Llull each struck from downtown to restore a 57-60 Real lead after 30 minutes. Campazzo scored in penetration early in the fourth quarter and Llull added a layup, but LeDay kept Zalgiris within 62-64 with over 7 minutes left. Jankunas hit a jumper, Randolph and LeDay exchanged three-pointers and a fastbreak layup by Grigonis gave Zalgiris the lead, 69-67. Walkup hit a jumper and got help from Grigonis and LeDay to make it 77-71. Ulanovas buried a critical three-pointer and soon added free throws to seal the outcome, 82-73, already in the final minute.

Pivotal performer

Zach LeDay did everything right for Zalgiris, providing intensity and accuracy at both ends. LeDay finished the game with 26 points off the bench on 9-of-12 two-point shooting plus 1-of-2 from downtown and making all of his 5 free throw attempts. He added 9 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, a block and 5 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 35. An all-around performance!

Game-changing moment

A three-pointer by Randolph gave Real its last lead, 64-67. LeDay quickly answered from downtown, Grigonis added a fast break layup and both of them went to the free-throw line to hit 2 apiece. By the time Ulanovas buried a long shot from downtown, the game was over, 80-73, after a 16-6 run.

Stellar stat

Zalgiris heavily outrebounded Real 36-27, including 13 offensive boards. LeDay had 9 rebounds, more than Edy Tavares, Randolph, Deck and Felipe Reyes combined (6).

Did you notice?

With its opening basket - a three-pointer by Hayes - Zalgiris became the 10th club to reach the 30,000-point mark in EuroLeague history. Zalgiris had 29,9998 points entering Round 4. At that time, CSKA Moscow led the standings (38,425 points), followed by Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (37,277) and FC Barcelona (36,456).

Next game

Both teams return to Turkish Airlines EuroLeague action next week. Real visits Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Thursday, October 24. A day later, Zalgiris hosts LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne.

Marius Grigonis - Zalgiris Kaunas - EB19
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Euroleague.net
No results found.
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; LOTTERMOSER, ROBERT; SHEMMESH, SEFFI
Attendance: 15109
By Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas18201929
Real Madrid15192613
End of Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas18385786
Real Madrid15346073
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 WALKUP, THOMAS 20:56 6 3/6 0/1   2 4 6 4   2     5 2 7
2 PEREZ, ALEX 17:33 5 1/5 1/1     1 1 3 1       2 1 5
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 7:18   0/2 0/1     1 1 4   1     4 1 -2
10 HAYES-DAVIS, NIGEL 23:35 15 3/6 3/5     2 2   1       2   11
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 14:34 6 2/2   2/2   3 3           1 2 10
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 8:44   0/1                   1 3   -5
23 GEBEN, MARTINAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
31 JOKUBAITIS, ROKAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
32 LEDAY, ZACH 27:05 26 9/12 1/2 5/5 5 4 9 2 1 1   1 2 5 35
34 LANDALE, JOCK 14:38 5 1/3 1/2   1 1 2 1 1 1     1   4
40 GRIGONIS, MARIUS 31:36 13 4/8 1/3 2/2 1 3 4 5 3 1     3 4 19
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 34:01 10 1/4 1/1 5/6 2 3 5 3   1     1 5 17
Team           2 1 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 86 24/49 8/16 14/15 13 23 36 22 7 8 0 2 24 20 103
        49% 50% 93.3%
Head coach: JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Real Madrid
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 CAUSEUR, FABIEN 11:37 6 3/4       2 2 3 1       1 1 11
3 RANDOLPH, ANTHONY 30:21 15 3/4 3/5     2 2   1 2     3 5 15
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 22:22 2   0/3 2/2 1   1 3 1       2 2 4
7 CAMPAZZO, FACUNDO 19:34 9 1/4 1/3 4/4       2   1     2 4 7
8 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 12:50 5 1/2 1/3     2 2 2   1     1 2 6
9 REYES, FELIPE 3:44   0/1 0/1                     1 -1
14 DECK, GABRIEL 16:06 7 2/2   3/4 1 1 2     2     1 2 7
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 10:20 7 2/2 1/1 0/1                   1 7
22 TAVARES, WALTER 11:58   0/1     2 1 3     2     2 1 -1
23 LLULL, SERGIO 16:14 9 1/4 1/4 4/4   2 2 4 1 2 1   4 3 8
25 MICKEY, JORDAN 26:08 6 3/5 0/1   1 5 6 3   2 1   4 1 8
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 18:46 7 2/3 1/2     1 1 1         1 1 7
Team           3 3 6               6
Totals 200:00 73 18/32 8/23 13/15 8 19 27 18 4 12 2 0 21 24 84
        56.3% 34.8% 86.7%
Head coach: LASO, PABLO

Head Coaches

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"I think that, for the date that we are in, in the middle of October, it was pretty close to be amazing because now, not many teams know the details, not many teams understand the importance of the details. We did good today and more importantly, we fought. We gave ourselves a chance and a couple of things went our way in the fourth quarter. In the EuroLeague, one win is just one win and I don't think one win surprises anybody. It is consistency that we have to create."
LASO, PABLO
Real Madrid
"I think the game was pretty tight until more or less the end of the third quarter, when we had, a little bit, control of it. I think our fourth quarter was terrible and they played with a lot of desire, hit important shots and outrebounded us. I think it was not a very good game from our part. They deserved to win; congratulations to Zalgiris for the victory. LeDay was beating us one-on-one and played a very good game. We know how important it is trying to stop guys who are able to play on the post like he did. He was very important at the end of the second quarter when he attacked inside and created a lot of points of them in one-on-one situations close to the basket. Congratulations on his game; he was very solid and gave Zalgiris an important push. For our part, it is true that we were not able to stop him in, more or less, one-on-one situations. In every coach's plan, you don't expect to get those 2 quick fouls [by Campazzo], but with the team that we have, we cannot cry about that. It is finished. Laprovittola did a good job in the first half and also Sergi [Llull] and I think Facu [Campazzo] played a good second half, but I won't say it was a key part of the game. That situation can happen and the team has to react to certain situations like that."

Players

LEDAY, ZACH
Zalgiris Kaunas
"We just had to fight, we just had to dig down. We had lost some close games. We are a new team, we are young, but Coach told us to just pay attention to details, come out and fight, and this is what we just did tonight. That's why we got the W. We were playing unselfish and getting stops. Everybody did what they could to help the team win. That is what Zalgiris basketball is about: playing hard and fighting. It took us two games to learn that and now we are here, so we have to keep on working, keep paying attention to details. [This first win] is great and I want more. I am ready to just move on. We are going to celebrate, but we just move on and keep going because it is a long season."
GRIGONIS, MARIUS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"Like our coaches are telling us all the time, details, details, details. This fighting spirit that we had and that all the fans had helped us a lot. Now, I am really happy for this win and everything, but if we had won the games against Milan and Baskonia, I would be in a perfect mood, but I am happy we took this one."
No results found.