2017-18Regular SeasonRound 13
December 19, 2017 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 ZALGIRIO ARENA

Milaknis shoots Zalgiris over Brose

Zalgiris Kaunas held on against Brose Bamberg for a tough 88-84 victory at Zalgirio Arena on Tuesday. The Lithuanian champs boosted their record to 8-5 while knocking Brose down to 6-7. Arturas Milaknis starred for the winners with career-highs of 20 points and 6 three-pointers made to lead an excellent long-range Zalgiris attack that connected on 10 of 19 from downtown (52.6%). Paulius Jankunas scored 8 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, Antanas Kavaliauskas added 15 points and Kevin Pangos tallied 11 points and 6 assists. Dorell Wright paced the German champs with 22 points, Daniel Hackett scored 17, Maodo Lo 14, Leon Radosevic 11 and Nikos Zisis accounted for 8 points and 9 assists in defeat.

Aggressive and physical defense did not allow either team any clean looks in the early going; Hackett’s three-pointer was the game’s first basket after more than three minutes of action. A mid-range jumper and lefty layup by Radosevic gave Brose a 4-7 edge midway through the opening quarter. Wright came off the bench for 8 points in a 0-9 Brose run to make it 6-16. After a Zalgiris timeout, back-to-back three-pointers by Aaron White and Milaknis brought the hosts right back. Pangos added another triple as Zalgiris drew within 21-22 after 10 minutes. Vasilije Micic opened the second quarter with a three that put Zalgiris back ahead. The lead changed hands a few times before Milaknis heated up with 5 points in a 7-0 spurt for a 33-27 advantage. The lead twice reached 7, but Brose came back to tie it at 44-44 on Hackett free throws. Zalgiris went back on top through a series of free throws and Ricky Hickman’s layup ended the half at 50-49.

Milaknis buried his fourth three early in the second half and his fifth made it 61-54 and prompted a Brose timeout. However the stoppage did not get Brose going and another Milaknis triple, which was followed by a big Brandon Davies block, gave Zalgiris a double-digit margin, 64-54. Brose quickly regrouped with 7 unanswered points to get back in the game. A fourth three-pointer by Wright made it 66-64. Back-to-back threes by Lo completed the comeback. After Jankunas free throws, Lo beat the buzzer with a layup to keep things even, 72-72, through three quarters. Pangos used a pair of layups to gain a 79-74 advantage for his team. Rubit fouled out with five minutes to go, but Brose stayed close on Hackett free throws that closed the gap to 80-79 with 3:39 on the clock. Jankunas responded with a basket-plus-foul and a little later brought the crowd to its feet with a triple that made it a 7-point lead. Hackett had Brose back in it with a three with 25 seconds left to make it 86-84, but Aaron White all but iced the victory with a pair of free throws with 10.7 seconds remaining.

Arturas Milaknis - Zalgiris Kaunas - EB17
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Euroleague.net
Referees: KOROMILAS, ELIAS; VOJINOVIC, MILIJA; NEDOVIC, MILAN
Attendance: 11180
By Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas21292216
Brose Bamberg22272312
End of Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas21507288
Brose Bamberg22497284
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 DAVIES, BRANDON 13:15 4 1/2   2/2 1   1 2     1   2 2 7
3 PANGOS, KEVIN 28:09 11 3/3 1/3 2/2   4 4 6 2 3     4 1 15
6 TOUPANE, AXEL 9:14 1 0/2 0/1 1/2   2 2   1 1   1 3 1 -4
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 24:03 17 4/5 1/1 6/7 1 4 5 1   3     2 6 22
20 MASIULIS, GYTIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 29:31 20 1/1 6/9   1 2 3 1   1     3 3 20
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 24:26 5 1/6 1/2     2 2 5 1       2 1 6
24 ARLAUSKAS, MARTYNAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
30 WHITE, AARON 27:29 9 2/4 1/3 2/4   3 3             3 9
44 KAVALIAUSKAS, ANTANAS 11:46 15 4/5   7/8   1 1 1 1       2 5 19
66 VALINSKAS, PAULIUS 7:28               1             1
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 24:39 6 1/3   4/4 1 2 3 4 1 1     2 4 13
Team           1 3 4               4
Totals 200:00 88 17/31 10/19 24/29 5 23 28 21 6 9 1 1 20 26 112
        54.8% 52.6% 82.8%
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
Brose Bamberg
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 HACKETT, DANIEL 27:05 17 1/2 3/4 6/7   3 3 3   2     3 5 20
2 HICKMAN, RICKY 15:31 2 1/2 0/3     1 1 1   2     2 2 -2
3 WRIGHT, DORELL 32:08 22 4/6 4/7 2/2 1 4 5 1         3 1 21
6 ZISIS, NIKOS 26:09 8 3/6 0/3 2/2 1 1 2 9   3     2 2 10
7 NIKOLIC, ALEKSEJ 12:06 5 2/4   1/1       1       1 2 2 3
8 STAIGER, LUCCA 6:08           1 1           1    
12 LO, MAODO 21:04 14 1/2 4/6     3 3 1         4 1 12
16 OLINDE, LOUIS 5:27         1 1 2 1         2   1
21 RUBIT, AUGUSTINE 17:23 5 2/4 0/1 1/2 1 1 2 1 2 1     5 2 2
24 MCDOWELL-WHITE, WILLIAM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
33 HECKMANN, PATRICK 3:38   0/1                         -1
43 RADOSEVIC, LEON 33:21 11 4/5   3/4   1 1 1   1 1   2 5 14
Team           1 3 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 84 18/32 11/24 15/18 5 19 24 19 2 10 1 1 26 20 83
        56.3% 45.8% 83.3%
Head coach: TRINCHIERI, ANDREA

Head Coaches

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"I think at the end you have to find a way to win and this is most important. I am talking about defensive mistakes for two months now; unfortunately we cannot get some stops. Let’s hope we can keep scoring like this because so far, so good. But we need to play better defense."
TRINCHIERI, ANDREA
Brose Bamberg
"Congratulations to Zalgiris. It was a great basketball game. Both teams played good. We played a very good game. We lost on some details. I believe that we were bad on Milaknis on defense and this created a problem for us in the third quarter and the second quarter. But I believe we played a very solid team basketball game."

Players

MILAKNIS, ARTURAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"First of all, defensively the game wasn’t so good. But we got it offensively and thank got we got the win. I am happy for the victory and everything else is good too."
ZISIS, NIKOS
Brose Bamberg
"It’s awkward, but I believe this was one of our best games of the season and it didn’t come with a win. But this is EuroLeague. We played against a great team that is playing excellent basketball. I think we made some mistakes on defense and they punished us on the switching defense. And with Milaknis especially, he scored some big shots that created separation. But we never gave up; we scored big shots too with Maodo and Daniel Hackett and Dorell. But it wasn’t enough. It’s a pity because I really believe we played good and had a good effort as a team. But most important is the win and it didn’t come. We need to reset, go back to Bamberg tonight and have another chance on Thursday against a great team."