2018-19Regular SeasonRound 15
Herbalife Gran Canaria 73
Zalgiris Kaunas 66
December 28, 2018 CET: 21:00
Local time: 20:00 GRAN CANARIA ARENA

Gran Canaria's defense stops Zalgiris

Herbalife Gran Canaria grabbed its sixth win in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague by topping Zalgiris Kaunas 73-66 at home on Friday. Gran Canaria improved to 6-9 in the standings, 12th overall but just one win away from Zalgiris, which is now tied for 8th at 7-8. Xavi Rabaseda led the winners with 15 points. Ondrej Balvin added 12 while Albert Oliver had 10 for Gran Canaria. Arturas Milaknis led Zalgiris with 13 points. Derrick Walton Jr. and Brandon Davies each added 11 for the guests.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Rabaseda and Oliver gave Gran Canaria an early 6-0 lead. Davies dunked and Nate Wolters added a floater but Rabaseda and Balvin kept the hosts in charge, 12-4. Milaknis and Aaron White stepped up with consecutive layups, and a jumper by Walton Jr. brought the guests closer before Laurynas Birutis and Edgaras Ulanovas fueled a 0-6 Zalgiris run that tied it at 16-16. Free throws by Luke Fischer and a floater by Marcus Eriksson restored a 20-17 Gran Canaria lead after 10 minutes. Thomas Walkup and Marius Grigonis hit jumpers and Milaknis added a triple for a Zalgiris lead, before Fischer took over with a dunk-and-foul, igniting a 12-0 run in which he and Eulis Baez combined for 10 points to give Gran Canaria its first double-digit lead, 34-24. Birutis dunked again and a tip-in by Balvin fixed the halftime score at 36-26. Milaknis, Strawberry and Rabaseda, twice, each struck from downtown for a 45-29 score soon after the break. Birutis and Grigonis tried to change things for Zalgiris, and Walton Jr., Davies and Rokas Jokubaitis brought Zalgiris closer, 57-50, after 30 minutes. Milaknis scored in penetration early in the fourth quarter but Eriksson did better with a bomb from way downtown and Oliver hit a trademark triple to make it 63-52. Anzejs Pasecniks capped a 8-0 run with a put-back slam but Zalgiris was not done. White hit free throws, then Davies followed a dunk with a tip-in for 65-59 with 3 minutes left. Eriksson ignited the crowd with a jumper but White and Walton got Zalgiris even closer, 67-63. Milaknis hit a triple, but a critical steal and foul shots by Oliver sealed the outcome, 71-66, as Zalgiris never recovered.

Pivotal performer

As always, Xavi Rabaseda was his team's defensive reference but he also delivered on offense, finishing the game with 15 points, only one missed shot and EuroLeague career-highs of 8 rebounds and 27 PIR.

Game-changing moment

Zalgiris rallied from a 17-point deficit to get within 57-52 early in the fourth quarter but Marcus Eriksson beat the shot clock buzzer with a nine-meter bomb and Albert Oliver also buried a three-pointer to put Gran Canaria back in command, 63-52.

Stellar stat

Zalgiris had hit 39.9% three-pointers in its opening 14 games but only downed 4-of-15 against Gran Canaria – just 26.7%. Zalgiris also had nearly as many assists (15) as turnovers (14).

Did you notice?

Gran Canaria limited Zalgiris to a season-lows in scoring (66) and performance index rating (66).

Next game:

Both teams return to Turkish Airlines EuroLeague action next week. Gran Canaria hosts Khimki Moscow Region on Thursday in a rematch of the 2015 7DAYS EuroCup Finals. A day later, Zalgiris welcomes archrivals CSKA Moscow.

Xavier Rabaseda - Herbalife Gran Canaria - EB18
Friday, December 28, 2018
Euroleague.net
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; GKONTAS, SPIROS; BISSANG, JOSEPH
Attendance: 5173
By Quarter1234
Herbalife Gran Canaria20162116
Zalgiris Kaunas1792416
End of Quarter1234
Herbalife Gran Canaria20365773
Zalgiris Kaunas17265066
Herbalife Gran Canaria
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 BALCEROWSKI, ALEKSANDER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4 OLIVER, ALBERT 22:29 10 1/5 2/6 2/2 1 2 3 5 1 2     2 1 8
8 ERIKSSON, MARCUS 19:31 7 2/3 1/6     2 2 1   1         3
9 VENE, SIIM-SANDER 12:45 2 0/2 0/3 2/2   2 2   1       1 1  
12 BALVIN, ONDREJ 18:57 12 3/4   6/6 2 3 5     1     2 3 16
13 BAEZ, EULIS 28:05 5 1/1 1/4     3 3 3 1 1     2 1 7
14 PASECNIKS, ANZEJS 10:45 2 1/4 0/1   2 1 3     1     3 2 -1
21 PAULI, ORIOL 17:31 4 1/3   2/2   2 2 1   4     3 3 1
22 RABASEDA, XAVIER 27:15 15 2/2 3/4 2/2 1 7 8 1 2   2   4 4 27
24 STRAWBERRY, DJ 21:09 6 1/4 1/4 1/2   3 3 4   1     1 5 9
40 FISCHER, LUKE 10:18 6 1/2   4/5                 2 3 5
41 TILLIE, KIM 11:15 4 2/2     1 1 2       1   1   6
Team             2 2     1         1
Totals 200:00 73 15/32 8/28 19/21 7 28 35 15 5 12 3 0 21 23 82
        46.9% 28.6% 90.5%
Head coach: GARCIA, VICTOR
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
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 22:36 11 4/9   3/4 1 8 9 3   4   1 4 2 10
1 WALTON JR, DERRICK 23:27 11 3/7 0/2 5/6   2 2 5 3 2     1 6 17
3 WOLTERS, NATE 12:06 2 1/1 0/1     2 2 2   1     1 2 5
7 WALKUP, THOMAS 8:30 2 1/2 0/1     1 1         1 2 1 -1
10 ULECKAS, LUKAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 VENSKUS, ERIKAS 2:56                 1           1
17 BIRUTIS, LAURYNAS 14:28 8 4/4       1 1 1   1     3 1 7
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 27:42 13 2/4 3/7     1 1   1 3   1 2   3
30 WHITE, AARON 26:49 6 2/3   2/2 2 5 7           3 2 11
31 JOKUBAITIS, ROKAS 7:27 2 1/3       1 1     2       3 2
40 GRIGONIS, MARIUS 30:07 9 3/5 1/2     3 3 2 1       4 2 10
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 23:52 2 1/5 0/2     2 2 2         3 2 -1
Team           2 1 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 66 22/43 4/15 10/12 5 27 32 15 6 14 0 3 23 21 66
        51.2% 26.7% 83.3%
Head coach: JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS

Head Coaches

GARCIA, VICTOR
Herbalife Gran Canaria

"For sure, the effort made the difference. I am really happy for the players' effort, so congratulations to them. From the first minute until the last, we did a great job on defense, allowing 66 points, which is great in the EuroLeague. The most important thing is that we were focused for the whole game."

"Sometimes it is difficult when you make such an effort in the first half to keep doing the same in the second half. The effort of the team was great against an aggressive and a very physical team, which was in a great moment. We can win with defense, that’s the idea we want to keep improving and keep being solid."

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"We are used to see Zalgiris fighting for every ball, playing with energy, and we didn't see that tonight. The first 25 minutes were really terrible in that aspect. Later we found some hope, when we started to play more aggressively, but overall it wasn't the Zalgiris that we try to develop. Injuries can't be the excuse, because we could win today with the players we have. We need to bounce back from this, climb over the adversities, and we need to bring more energy in the games to come."

Players

RABASEDA, XAVIER
Herbalife Gran Canaria
"I feel great. I think we did a great job. It was very important for us because we came from three losses in a row. We have four more games at home now and the fans deserve it."
BALVIN, ONDREJ
Herbalife Gran Canaria
"We beat a really good team. We are improving, especially in our home court. We have always been strong here but had some struggles during the season. Right now, we just need to be focused on the next game, because we are also struggling in our domestic league. We have to remember the good things we did and keep it for the next game."
WHITE, AARON
Zalgiris Kaunas
"We just didn’t play well, we didn’t follow the game plan, and that’s what happens when you don’t do what we talked about going into the game. In the first half, we did not attack the pick-and-roll the way we needed to, we did not move the ball well and had too many turnovers. In the second half, we were more aggressive on the pick-and-rolls, drawing fouls, driving the basketball and getting the bonus in the first 3 minutes of the third quarter. We played with more of a sense of urgency, but it was little bit too late because we dug ourselves a hole, especially in the second quarter, when we scored only 9 points."
WALTON JR, DERRICK
Zalgiris Kaunas
"We did not make the necessary adjustments in the most crucial part of the game. We gave away some easy offensive baskets that were backbreaking, and overall we just got into a position where we were fighting back so much that it was hard to sustain it throughout the whole game."