2016-17Regular SeasonRound 21
Zalgiris Kaunas 89
FC Barcelona Lassa 85
February 02, 2017 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 ZALGIRIO ARENA
Lukas Lekavicius - Zalgiris Kaunas - EB16

Ulanovas, Lekavicius lift Zalgiris to third straight win

Zalgiris Kaunas registered its third consecutive win by pulling out an 89-85 decision over visiting FC Barcelona Lassa on Thursday at Zalgirio Arena. Zalgirs improved to 9-12 on the season, while dropping Barcelona to 8-13. The game featured countless lead changes and ties, and neither team had a lead bigger than 6 points in the first 38 minutes. However, a pair of fourth quarter runs, first 9-0 and later 11-2, gave Zalgiris the lead for good and the Lithuanian champs managed to hold on. Lukas Lekavicius had a career-game with 17 points on 8-of-8 two point shooting along with 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Edgaras Ulanovas also scored 17 points, his season-high, along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Paulius Jankunas added 15 points and Arturas Milaknis hit 4 of 7 three-pointers for 14 points in victory. Barcelona had five double digit scorers, led by EuroLeague scoring king Juan Carlos Navarro, who had a season-high 17 points with 4 assists. Tyrese Rice tallied 12 points and 7 assists, Petteri Koponen also netted 12 points and Justin Doellman and Vitor Faverani had 11 apiece in defeat.

Koponen and Rice hit from long range, and Faverani scored 9 of Barcelona’s first 17 points in helping the visitors to a 13-19 lead. Brock Motum hit a three-pointer for the hosts, but Victor Claver answered with one of his own for Barcelona, giving the visitors an 18-24 lead after 10 minutes. Barcelona kept the lead in the second thanks to Navarro, who hit a pair of triples and a driving layup. But Milaknis hit a three for the hosts, who managed to get to the free throw line and put together a 10-2 run and open a 39-34 lead late in the second. However, Koponen made a runner, which after 2 free throws from Faverani, made it 39-38 at halftime. The third quarter alone featured five lead changes and six ties, and neither team had a lead bigger than 3 points. Lekavicius was the driving force for the hosts and Milaknis and Jankinas each hit a triple, while Stratos Perperoglou had 7 points for Barcelona during that stanza. It was only fitting that the teams were tied at 61-61 going into the fourth quarter. Navarro hit his fourth triple, and with help from Rice and Ante Tomic the visitors built a 64-70 margin. But Milaknis got a lucky bounce on a corner triple, which sparked a 9-0 run. Navarro got Barcelona back in front, 73-74, but only briefly because the hosts scored the next 6 points, Ulanovas drove for a tough layup and Leo Westermann picked Navarro’s pocket for an easy layup and an 84-76 advantage. Rice and Doellman gave Barcelona a chance, cutting to 85-83 with 17 seconds to go, but Zalgiris made all the free throw at the end to seal the win.

Thursday, February 2, 2017
Euroleague.net
Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; LATISEVS, OLEGS; HORDOV, TOMISLAV
Attendance: 12347
By Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas18212228
FC Barcelona Lassa24142324
End of Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas18396189
FC Barcelona Lassa24386185
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 PANGOS, KEVIN 15:20 2 0/2 0/2 2/2   2 2 2       1 2 1  
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 24:28 17 8/8 0/2 1/2 1 4 5 4 2 2     1 3 25
9 WESTERMANN, LEO 26:51 8 3/5 0/3 2/2   3 3 6 2 3     3 2 10
10 SEIBUTIS, RENALDAS 7:51               1 1       1 1 2
12 MOTUM, BROCK 21:15 8 1/2 2/4   1 2 3   1 1     2   6
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 27:46 15 3/5 1/2 6/8 1 3 4     1     1 6 18
15 JAVTOKAS, ROBERTAS 3:22           1 1     1     1   -1
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 17:40 14   4/7 2/2   1 1     1     4 3 10
23 LIMA, AUGUSTO 17:47 4 2/4   0/1 1 3 4 2   1 1   4 2 5
44 KAVALIAUSKAS, ANTANAS 9:50 4 2/3               1   1 2   -1
55 HARTENSTEIN, ISAIAH DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 27:50 17 4/4 1/2 6/6 3 1 4 4   1 1   4 5 25
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 89 23/33 8/22 19/23 8 22 30 19 6 12 2 2 25 23 102
        69.7% 36.4% 82.6%
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
FC Barcelona Lassa
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 RICE, TYRESE 33:53 12 3/6 2/6     1 1 7   4 1 1 3 2 8
5 DOELLMAN, JUSTIN 23:25 11 3/6 1/2 2/2   5 5 1   1   1 4 1 8
10 CLAVER, VICTOR 5:16 5   1/2 2/2                 1 1 4
11 NAVARRO, JUAN CARLOS 22:32 17 3/4 3/8 2/2   1 1 4 1 2     4 1 12
13 FAVERANI, VITOR 15:39 11 3/5   5/6 2 3 5 2   1     2 5 17
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 16:25 6 1/2 1/1 1/2 1 1 2 2 1       4 1 6
16 PENO, STEFAN 6:07 2     2/2       1           1 4
20 ERIKSSON, MARCUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 DIAGNE, MOUSSA 2:36   0/1     1   1           1 1  
25 KOPONEN, PETTERI 23:50 12 3/5 2/5         1 1       3 4 10
33 PERPEROGLOU, STRATOS 28:33 7 3/4 0/2 1/3   2 2 4 1 1     2 2 8
44 TOMIC, ANTE 21:44 2 1/3     3 3 6 1   1 1     6 13
Team           2 2 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 85 20/36 10/26 15/19 9 18 27 23 4 11 2 2 24 25 93
        55.6% 38.5% 78.9%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"Unbelievable, we are not used to these types of streaks in Kaunas. We have to keep going. I don’t want it to sound too much, but we can play better. I will try to get my guys to play even better. They are fighting like crazy, but we got to get our heads in our game a little bit. But for third game in row it did not matter because of the unbelievable effort of my players. For us, Ulanovas and Lekavicius playing well is double-pride. They grew up in our system, and for our fans our system is important. Every basket they made, fans went even more crazy. It is very nice. Tonight, whenever we kept to our game plan, we were fine. In a timeout we told players to let’s keep understanding where to take risks, when not to take risks, where we switch, where not to switch. We did not do a good job of all that, but a win against Barcelona is an unbelievable feeling… It was an incredible atmosphere in our arena. Truly, in the last two games our fans are becoming sixth player and we feel very happy we are giving them something back once again."
BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
FC Barcelona Lassa
"Congratulations to Zalgiris for this win. They played excellent. Finally, some details created the result, but I have to say that our defense wasn’t good enough for this kind of game. We allowed almost 90 points. It is very difficult to score more on the road to win the game, and second, we allowed almost 70 percent for two-point shots from Zalgiris, which is a really high percentage. If I have to find one reason we lost, it is this. Our defense wasn’t strong enough. Even in some crucial moments of the game, we missed 1 important defensive rebound and at the same time Motum scored a three. That was a key play of the game. We have to continue, we have to go on."

Players

LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"I think we wanted the win more than Barcelona. The crowd was amazing, it was like our sixth player. We did a good job on offense. Our defense was not good, we made some mistakes, but on offense we put the ball where we wanted and made some shots. That was the key."