2021-22Regular SeasonRound 10
Zalgiris Kaunas 76
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 69
November 16, 2021 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 ZALGIRIO ARENA

Zalgiris captures first victory

Zalgiris Kaunas recorded its first win of the 2021-22 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season by downing Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 76-69 at Zalgirio Arena on Tuesday. Zalgiris improved to 1-9 in the standings while dropping Panathinaikos to 2-8. Arturas Milaknis led the winners with 13 points, Tyler Cavanaugh scored 12, Edgaras Ulanovas 11 and Marek Blazevic 10 for Zalgiris. Daryl Macon Jr. paced Panathinaikos with 24 points and Ioannis Papapetrou added 10. Milaknis came off the bench to score 7 first-quarter points and got help from Cavanaugh and Ulanovas to give Zalgiris a 20-12 lead after 10 minutes. Blazevic soon boosted the margin to 34-20, but Macon and Papapetrou brought Panathinaikos within 43-37 at halftime. Zoran Dragic and Josh Nebo kept Zalgiris ahead 60-52 at the end of the third quarter. Panathinaikos managed to get within 67-65, but Cavanaugh and Ulanovas took care of business in crunch time.

Macon got Panathinaikos going with 4 quick points before Mantas Kalnietis struck from downtown and Cavanaugh followed a turnaround jumper with a layup to put Zalgiris in charge, 7-4. Blazevic downed a jumper, but Papapetrou bettered that with a layup-plus-foul. Milaknis matched Okaro White's dunk with a driving basket and soon added a triple for a 14-9 Zalgiris edge. After Ulanovas buried a baseline jumper, Papapetrou and Georgios Papagiannis got Panathinaikos within 16-12. Milaknis kept pushing the hosts and Ulanovas took over with a tip-in that boosted the lead to 20-12 after 10 minutes.

Howard Sant-Roos buried a fallaway jumper early in the second quarter. Niels Giffey, Yogi Ferrell and Milaknis each made threes and Blazevic scored down low to make it a double-digit game, 28-17. Sant-Roos took over with a three-point play and Jeremy Evans scored in the paint, but Tai Webster and Blazevic kept Zalgiris in control, 34-22. Leonidas Kaselakis stepped up with a layup and Macon added a wild four-point play to give the Greens hope at 34-28. Janis Strenieks buried a triple and Blazevic banked in a close shot to restore a 39-28 Zalgiris lead. Macon and Papapetrou each struck from beyond the arc. White stepped up next to bring Panathinaikos within 43-37 at halftime.

Dragic and White traded three-pointers immediately after the break. Cavanaugh joined the three-point shootout and matched Kendrick Perry's driving basket with a layup for a 51-43 lead. Papagiannis hit a jumper and Macon added a driving layup, but Dragic made it 53-47. Ulanovas buried a three-pointer and Nebo ignited the crowd with a dunk. Lukas Lekavicius buried a floater only to see Perry answer from downtown to fix the score at 60-52 after 30 minutes.

Macon buried one from beyond the arc early in the fourth quarter and Papagiannis dunked, which prompted Zalgiris to call timeout at 60-57. Milaknis rescued the hosts with a triple and Strelnieks added a backdoor layup that gave Zalgiris fresh air at 65-57. Mantas Kalnietis found his first points, but Kaselakis buried a corner triple and Macon gave Panathinaikos hope at 67-63. Cavanaugh bettered Papagiannis's jump hook with a triple and Giffey made it 72-65 with 2 minutes left. Macon hit free throws and a jump hook by Ulanovas sealed the outcome, 74-67, as Panathinaikos never recovered.

Milaknis saves the day

Zalgiris Kaunas finally conquered its first win by downing Panathinaikos OPAP Athens at home. One of its most experienced players stepped up to lead the Lithuanian champs past Panathinaikos. Arturas Milaknis came off the bench and made the difference with 13 points on 3-of-6 three-point shooting. It was the first time that he made a two-pointer, three-pointer and a free throw in one game since Round 7 of the 2020-21 campaign.

Ulanovas steps up big

Edgaras Ulanovas entered Zalgiris Kaunas's game against Panathinaikos OPAP Athens with very poor numbers, averaging 3.3 points on low shooting percentages (13.6% 2FG, 22.7% 3FG), 2.1 rebounds and a PIR average of 2.1. Ulanovas put everything aside to thrill the crowd at Zalgirio Arena with an excellent performance, helping Zalgiris win its first game of the season after nine consecutive losses. Ulanovas had 11 points on 3-of-3 two-point shooting, 1-of-3 on three-pointers and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line plus 6 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal for a team-high PIR of 22.

Zalgiris shoots better, limits mistakes

Zalgiris Kaunas improved in a lot of stat categories to beat Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 76-69 in Round 9 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season. Zalgiris was more effective inside the arc, making 16 of 28 two-pointers (57.1). It also limited Panathinaikos to score just 13 of its 31 two-point shots (40.6%). Zalgiris committed only 8 turnovers and dished 19 assists. Panathinaikos was not able to circulate the ball as well and finished the game with 13 assists and 12 turnovers.

Janis Strelnieks - Zalgiris Kaunas - EB21
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; PEREZ, EMILIO; UDYANSKYY, EDUARD
Attendance: 6383
By Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas20231716
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens12251517
End of Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas20436076
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens12375269
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 WEBSTER, TAI 8:20 2     2/4       1   1     1 4 3
1 BLAZEVIC, MAREK 19:15 10 3/6   4/4 1 2 3 2   1     4 6 13
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 16:17 2 1/5 0/3         1   1     3 1 -7
7 NEBO, JOSH 10:44 2 1/1   0/2 2 2 4     1     1 1 3
9 KALNIETIS, MANTAS 21:37 5 1/1 1/5     2 2 5   1     1 1 7
16 LUKOSIUNAS, KAROLIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 18:00 13 1/2 3/6 2/2   2 2           3 1 9
30 DRAGIC, ZORAN 10:50 5 1/2 1/3     1 1 1 1 1   1 1 1 3
32 STRELNIEKS, JANIS 28:19 9 2/3 1/4 2/2   2 2 3 2 1 1   3 2 11
34 CAVANAUGH, TYLER 23:06 12 3/4 2/3     9 9 1 1 1     3   17
55 GIFFEY, NIELS 19:00 5 0/1 1/2 2/2   2 2 2 1       2 1 7
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 24:32 11 3/3 1/3 2/2 1 5 6 3 1   1     3 23
Team           1 1 2     1         1
Totals 200:00 76 16/28 10/29 14/18 5 28 33 19 6 9 2 1 22 21 90
        57.1% 34.5% 77.8%
Head coach: ZDOVC, JURE
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
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 PERRY, KENDRICK 18:42 5 1/4 1/2     1 1 2         4 1 1
5 MACON JR, DARYL 32:43 21 2/4 3/6 8/10 1 5 6 3 2 5   1 2 6 23
6 PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 28:54 9 4/5   1/2 1 6 7   1 1 1   4 1 12
7 BOCHORIDIS, ELEFTHERIOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 36:31 10 1/8 1/5 5/9 2 2 4 3   1   1 3 6 3
11 FERRELL, YOGI 6:04 3 0/1 1/2     1 1     1     1 2 2
14 KASELAKIS, LEONIDAS 14:37 6 1/1 1/3 1/2 2 4 6 1         2 2 10
15 WHITE, OKARO 23:08 7 1/3 1/4 2/2 1   1 1 1 2     1 2 4
20 FLOYD, JEHYVE 8:33 1 0/3   1/2 2 2 4           1 1 1
40 EVANS, JEREMY 8:17 2 1/1       2 2   1           5
74 SANT-ROOS, HOWARD 22:31 5 2/3 0/2 1/1 1 1 2 3   2     3 1 3
Team           2 3 5     1         4
Totals 200:00 69 13/33 8/24 19/28 12 27 39 13 5 13 1 2 21 22 68
        39.4% 33.3% 67.9%
Head coach: PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS

Head Coaches

ZDOVC, JURE
Zalgiris Kaunas
"First, I would like to thank my players for this win. It was not easy, there was pressure and finally, we won. We kept the opponent under 70 points. This is good - if you do this, you have a big chance to win. I don't make a big deal of this win, like I don't make a big deal when we lost. We must keep going, work, believe and try to win every game. We rotated a lot of players. It was easy for me tonight because each player that stepped on the court gave something. Like I said, we had some tough moments. We lost the rhythm, but didn't lose the balls. Sometimes I prefer to shoot in the last second of the offense to control the defense, the transition defense, than losing the ball in some wild action and allow the opponent to score an easy basket."
PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"It was a tough game. Zalgiris had control of the game but we were close. We approached the game in a certain moment. It was a couple of possessions that were bad for us and they took the lead again. We were needing something extra, a little bit more to be able to win the game. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Congratulations to Zalgiris. We now have to concentrate and go to the next game because there is no time for emotions. Of course, we are disappointed, but travel tomorrow and play the day after tomorrow. The schedule is really tough, so there is no time and no room for overthinking. There are some things that we have to do better, to execute better. For sure, there is something that is missing, so we have these bad results. Unfortunately, we go close and that is what I said, we need one more extra thing. One shot, one better execution, two better defenses, to raise a little bit our opportunities in this kind of game."

Players

CAVANAUGH, TYLER
Zalgiris Kaunas
"It feels great. It has been a tough start to the year for us. I am just so grateful for the fans; they keep showing up and supporting us and they were huge tonight in our win. I thought that everyone just played really hard tonight. We played together and that is what coach has been preaching to us. It feels great to get the monkey off our backs. There is always pressure, every game, but obviously you feel it. You want to win for the team, you want to win for the fans, for the organization. It feels great to get that done and we are just going to use this as a building block. We haven't won anything yet, but this is a good start and we have to keep improving each day."
ULANOVAS, EDGARAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"It was not easy. A lot of ups and downs. We had a comfortable lead in the first half but unfortunately, we couldn't keep it. They hit some tough shots, free throws while shooting three-pointers. It was very bad for us, but at the end, somehow we took it. We had great energy on defense, rotation, communication. I think that was the key, and finally, we got the first win and hopefully, we will play better. Hopefully, now there will be less pressure."
PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"First of all, it is another game that we didn't play well and as we wanted. I'm not looking for excuses. We have to play as we can. It is our fault and no one else's. We have to try, but unfortunately, that doesn't happen. I'm not looking for an excuse. I take the responsibility as the player who I has been in the team for the most years. It is a difficult period. We need to change it for the team and the fans. They deserve a better picture. We are extremely misguided, there is nothing wrong with something else."
No results found.