2020-21Regular SeasonRound 2
October 10, 2020 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 ARENA MYTISHCHI

Zalgiris holds off depleted Khimki

Zalgiris Kaunas hit 13 three-pointers to register an 70-84 victory over undermanned host Khimki Moscow Region in a rare Saturday night game to complete Round 2 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season. Its second straight road win gave Zalgiris a 2-0 record for the first time in eight years as it joined four other unbeaten teams in first place after two rounds. Khimki, with only eight players available due to injury and COVID-19, dropped to 0-2. The hosts, built a nine-point lead early behind Jonas Jerebko, but Zalgiris caught fire early in the second quarter and pulled away for good. Zalgiris pulled into halftime on a 6-24 run and then opened the third with 4-17 push to build an unsurmountable lead midway through the third quarter. Khimki fought until the end, cutting the difference from a high of 21 to 7 points with under 5 minutes left, before Zalgiris resumed its three-point sniping and shut the door. Marius Grigonis led Zalgiris with 21 points on 5-for-8 three-point shooting. Nigel Hayes added 15 points, Arturas Milaknis 14 and Augustine Rubit 12 points for the winners. For Khimki, Jerebko finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Devin Booker added 14 points, Vladislav Odinokov 11 and Vyacheslav Zaytsev 10. Khimki was missing Alexey Shved, Stefan Jovic, Jordan Mickey and Janis Timma, among others.


Khimki started hot, with Sergey Monia and Sergey Karasev each hitting a triple to fuel a 9-2 game-opening run. Zalgiris struggled on offense, with Grigonis and Rokas Jokubaitis scoring tough buckets before Milaknis knocked down a three-pointer to close the gap to 13-11. Jerebko answered with a three of his own to help Khimki stay ahead 20-17 after one quarter. Jerebko scored 6 points in less than 2 minutes to open the second quarter, increasing the lead to 26-17. However, Zalgiris found its range against Khimki's zone defense, with Grigonis, Thomas Walkup and Milaknis each connecting from long range to get the visitors within 28-26. Zalgiris also stepped up on defense, pressuring Khimki's playmakers deep on their own half court, and continued their offensive charge with Walkup running the offense. Augustine Rubit and Nigel Hayes scored inside before triples by Milaknis and Steve Vasturia made it 32-41 at halftime. Zalgiris kept its foot on the gas pedal early in the third as Grigonis sandwiched 2 triples around one from Hayes for a sudden 34-54. Another triple from Hayes extended the margin to 21 points, the largest lead of the night, before Odinokov hit a three-pointer for Khimki, followed it with a layup, then knocked down another three at 46-61. Jumpers from Lukas Lekavicius and Rubit gave Zalgiris 48-67 advantage after 30 minutes, but the hosts had no intention of giving up. Their zone defense finally stalled Zalgiris, while Zaytsev hit a pair of runners and Booker scored inside during an 8-0 run that trimmed the margin to 56-67. A Grigonis triple snapped Zalgiris drought of more than 4 minutes without a basket, but Odinokov answered with his third triple to help. When Booker dunked, it was suddenly 63-70 with 4:18 to play. After a Zalgiris timeout, however, Milaknis answered from the corner and Grigonis added own triple before a fastbreak layup from Hayes restored a 65-78 lead with 3 minutes left, putting an end to Khimki's hopes.

Key run

It took a while for Zalgiris to click on offense, but once they did, the visitors quickly put together a 4-19 run to pull away. Zalgiris scored 16 points in the first 12 minutes and 19 in the following 6. The visitors made 3 of 4 two-pointers and 4 of 5 triples over that six-minute span.

Good start

This is the first time that Zalgiris has started the regular season with two wins since the 2012-13 season, when it started 5-0. This is also the first time in six attempts that Zalgiris has downed Khimki on the road.

Double-digit debut

Vladislav Odinokov made the best of his opportunity. Khimki's 20-year old forward got a chance to make his EuroLeague debut and in 18 minutes netted 11 points on 3-for-4 three-point shooting.

Saturday clash

The game took place 24 hours later than it was originally planned, after one Zalgiris and several Khimki players tested positive for COVID-19.

Next up

Zalgiris will be in action already on Tuesday when it visits Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade (1-1) in a Round 3 clash, while Khimki plays a day later on the road against Real Madrid (0-2).

Marius Grigonis - Zalgiris Kaunas - EB20
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; MOGULKOC, EMIN; VYKLICKY, ROBERT
Attendance: 627
By Quarter1234
Khimki Moscow Region20121622
Zalgiris Kaunas17242617
End of Quarter1234
Khimki Moscow Region20324870
Zalgiris Kaunas17416784
Khimki Moscow Region
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
7 KARASEV, SERGEY 26:36 3 0/3 1/4     1 1 3 1 1   1 2 1 -1
8 ZAITCEV, VIACHESLAV 25:30 10 5/6     1 1 2 4   3 1   3 3 13
9 VIALTSEV, EGOR 25:18 4 1/2   2/2   1 1 5   3       3 9
12 MONIA, SERGEY 30:29 5 1/1 1/4   1 4 5 4   1 2   1   11
17 ODINOKOV, VLADISLAV 18:07 11 1/1 3/4 0/2                 4 1 5
31 BOOKER, DEVIN 36:25 14 6/11 0/1 2/3 2 3 5 4 1 4     3 3 13
33 JEREBKO, JONAS 37:35 23 5/10 2/7 7/8 2 10 12 3 1 2 1   3 6 30
45 BERTANS, DAIRIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           1 3 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 70 19/34 7/20 11/15 7 23 30 23 3 15 4 1 16 17 83
        55.9% 35% 73.3%
Head coach: KURTINAITIS, RIMAS
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 WALKUP, THOMAS 25:16 5 1/2 1/1     1 1 6 2         1 14
1 BLAZEVIC, MAREK DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 14:44 4 1/4 0/1 2/2 1   1     1     1 4 3
10 HAYES-DAVIS, NIGEL 25:48 15 3/5 2/9 3/3 1 3 4     1   1   3 11
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 14:12 4 0/1 0/2 4/4 1 1 2     1     4 2  
16 LUKOSIUNAS, KAROLIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 22:30 14 1/2 4/6     3 3 2 1       1   16
23 GEBEN, MARTINAS 11:03 2 1/7     3 3 6 1 2 1   1 4   -1
24 RUBIT, AUGUSTINE 28:57 12 5/6   2/2 3 2 5 4 1 3 1 1 2 1 17
31 JOKUBAITIS, ROKAS 18:33 4 2/2 0/1         2 1 2     1 1 4
32 VASTURIA, STEVE 13:58 3 0/1 1/2     1 1 2         1   3
40 GRIGONIS, MARIUS 24:59 21 2/4 5/8 2/2 1 3 4 3       1 3 4 23
Team             4 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 84 16/34 13/30 13/13 10 21 31 20 7 10 1 4 17 16 93
        47.1% 43.3% 100%
Head coach: SCHILLER, MARTIN

Head Coaches

KURTINAITIS, RIMAS
Khimki Moscow Region
"First, I want to congratulate Zalgiris on this win. They were stronger tonight. For sure, I don't want to find excuses but we have reasons [for this loss]. It's difficult to play a EuroLeague game with six players; it doesn't matter if the game is at home or away. It's a big problem. But I think our guys did their maximum tonight. Now we are waiting for our injured players to come back as well as those who were sick with the coronavirus."
SCHILLER, MARTIN
Zalgiris Kaunas
"The game was, in a way, what we anticipated. The opponent was undermanned due to the virus and injuries, but still very talented. So, statistically and analytically, an eight-man rotation is the best rotation you can play. You can just not play it over a whole season. These games are not won in the first quarter. So it went how we anticipated it to go. We tried to invest a lot of energy in order to tire them out, because of their small rotation, and we were happy it worked out. And we were happy about the win. I was totally concerned [when Khimki came back in the fourth quarter], which is why I took a timeout. It's a highly talented squad, even with only half the squad. Again, I'm happy we pulled off the win, but I really wish Khimki all the best, that everybody gets healthy, that injuries going away, especially fighting the virus. I hope that everything goes well for Khimki quickly."

Players

ODINOKOV, VLADISLAV
Khimki Moscow Region
"I've been preparing for the game for a long time. We have a lot of injured players and there were not enough players for the game, so I understood that I would need to go out and help the team if necessary. Of course, there was pressure, but this is my first official game in the EuroLeague. It was very exciting, and I am glad that I did something good in the offense. But on defense, I could not fulfill [what was expected], so I don't think this game was the best one."
GRIGONIS, MARIUS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"We all know about the situation. I don't even want to talk about the game. I'm just happy and blessed that we played this game, and we need to just keep going. We had 12 players; they had six or seven. So it's obvious [why we won]."