2019-20Regular SeasonRound 10
Zalgiris Kaunas 59
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 61
November 21, 2019 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 ZALGIRIO ARENA

Zvezda captures first road win in Kaunas

In a nail-biter that was not decided until the last shot clanged off the back rim after the final buzzer, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade edged Zalgiris Kaunas 59-61 on Thursday at Zalgirio Arena. Lorenzo Brown scored the go-ahead basket after an offensive rebound with 15.1 seconds remaining and Zalgiris faltered from the free-throw line late. Zvezda snapped a three-game losing streak with its first road win of the season. The result left both teams with 3-7 records. Zalgiris lost its fourth consecutive game. Billy Baron led all scorers with 14 points for Zvezda and Lorenzo brown netted 12. For Zalgiris, Edgaras Ulanovas and Marius Grigonis scored 11 points apiece and Jock Landale added 10.

Baron scored twice to give Zvezda an early lead, but Zalgiris struck back through Thomas Walkup to lead 10-4. The visitors twice closed the gap to 3, however, a driving layup by Lukas Lekavicius and a pair of free throws by Zach LeDay extended the margin to 18-11. Filip Covic drilled a triple as Zvezda once again drew within 3. Lukas Lekavicius's jumper put Zalgiris up 21-16 after 10 minutes. The start of the second quarter followed the same script with Zvezda getting within 3 and Zalgiris pulling back to 25-18 through a free throw by LeDay. Lorenzo Brown came back in and ignited the visitors on a 0-8 run capped by Ognjen Kuzmic's basket-plus-foul for a 25-26 Zvezda edge. The lead changed hands twice more before Lorenzo Brown drained a three-pointer to make it 27-31. Landale's dunk trimmed the deficit to 31-33 at the break. Lorenzo Brown assisted on the first two baskets of the second half as Zvezda went ahead by 6. A three by Landale ignited the Kaunas support and free throws by Grigonis and Lekavicius created a 7-0 run for a 38-37 edge. That was just the first of six lead changes in the third quarter alone! Mouhammad Faye scored free throws to put Zezvda up 3 before LeDay free throws made it 46-47 through three quarters. Dobric banked in a shot and Charles Jenkins sank a long jumper to put the visitors up 5 early in the fourth quarter. Landale's put-back and Lekavicius's floater tied the game at 53-53 midway through the fourth quarter. Arturas Milaknis beat the shot-clock with a go-ahead top-of-the-key three that sealed the hosts' 8-0 run. Michael Ojo scored on the offensive glass to even things at 56-56 with 2:41 remaining. Ulanovas used a spin move to put the hosts up with 1:24 to play. Faye knotted the score once more with free throws. Lorenzo Brown grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to make it 58-60 with 15.1 seconds on the clock, but Grigonis - a 92.2% career free throw shooter at that point - split foul shots with 6.4 seconds remaining and Zvezda hung on for the win.

Key performer

In addition to scoring what proved to be the game-winning basket, Lorenzo Brown played an excellent all-around game to finish with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and a performance index rating of 19. He also did many things that the stats don't show, including playing tenacious defense in the paint on switches against big men and thus discouraging Zalgiris from seeking such mismatches inside.

Telling statistic

Entering Round 10, Zalgiris was shooting a league-best 86.0% from the free-throw line. The Lithuanian champs were let down by their foul shooting in this contest, making just 16 of 23 (69.6%). In contrast, Zvezda shot 90% (18 for 20) from the line. The other standout number was the horrendous three-point shooting by both teams; Zalgiris was 3 for 21 (14.3%) and Zvezda even worse with 3 makes from 24 tries (12.5%).

Zvezda's reserves stood tall

Zvezda played 11 players at least 10 minutes each and got plenty of production from its second unit; the Zvezda reserves produced 29 points, 20 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Zalgiris's reserves totaled 18 points, 8 boards, 4 assists and 1 steal.

What's next

Crvena Zvezda will be at home next week in Round 11 to play Valencia Basket. Zalgiris heads to Germany for a showdown with ALBA Berlin.

Lorenzo Brown - Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade - EB19
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; PANTHER, ANNE; VYKLICKY, ROBERT
Attendance: 14033
By Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas21101513
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade16171414
End of Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas21314659
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade16334761
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 22:54 7 2/3 1/3 0/2       4 2 1     4 2 5
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 23:25 9 3/6 0/3 3/4 1 2 3     2     3 3 3
10 HAYES-DAVIS, NIGEL 11:02 1     1/2 1 2 3 1   1       1 4
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 20:29 2 1/3     2 5 7 1   1   1 3 3 6
16 LUKOSIUNAS, KAROLIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 16:37 3   1/5     1 1 2 1       4   -1
23 GEBEN, MARTINAS 4:57   0/1               1     1   -3
31 JOKUBAITIS, ROKAS 1:13                   1         -1
32 LEDAY, ZACH 16:12 5 0/1 0/1 5/6   1 1 1     2     4 10
34 LANDALE, JOCK 27:18 10 3/8 1/4 1/2 3 3 6 1 1   1   4 1 7
40 GRIGONIS, MARIUS 26:16 11 4/6 0/3 3/4       1   2     2 5 7
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 29:37 11 4/7 0/2 3/3 3 2 5 1   1     1 5 15
Team           3 6 9               9
Totals 200:00 59 17/35 3/21 16/23 13 22 35 12 4 10 3 1 22 24 61
        48.6% 14.3% 69.6%
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
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 KUZMIC, OGNJEN 22:49 3 1/3   1/1   3 3 1 1 1     3 3 5
3 COVIC, FILIP 16:35 3 0/1 1/7     1 1 2       1 3 3 -2
4 BROWN, LORENZO 23:25 12 2/5 1/3 5/5 2 3 5 3 1   1   2 4 19
7 DAVIDOVAC, DEJAN 11:29 4 1/1 0/1 2/2   1 1 1           1 6
10 LAZIC, BRANKO 10:04 2 1/1 0/1   1   1           4 1 -1
11 FAYE, MOUHAMMAD 27:48 5 0/4 0/1 5/6 2 5 7 1   3     1 3 6
12 BARON, BILLY 24:25 14 4/5 1/6 3/4 2 2 4 1 1       1 5 17
13 DOBRIC, OGNJEN 18:10 6 3/3 0/2     1 1     2     2 1 2
22 JENKINS, CHARLES 18:50 6 2/7 0/3 2/2 1 4 5   1 1   2 3 1 -1
28 SIMANIC, BORISA 10:06 2 1/1       1 1     1     1   1
32 JOVANOVIC, NIKOLA 0:14                              
50 OJO, MICHAEL 16:05 4 2/2     2 3 5   3 2     4   6
Team           2 2 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 61 17/33 3/24 18/20 12 26 38 9 7 11 1 3 24 22 61
        51.5% 12.5% 90%
Head coach: GAVRILOVIC, ANDRIJA

Head Coaches

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"Congratulations to Zvezda. Unfortunately, it was a very ugly game for us. We couldn't get anything going, we didn't make a lot of things we set out to make and at the end, we paid the price."
GAVRILOVIC, ANDRIJA
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade

"I think defense [was the key] because the score shows that. especially after the first quarter, we understood our way was to be tough inside as much as we can. Zalgiris was strong on offense rebounds, but we tried to get back, improve in boxing out and taking rebounds minute after minute and of course, there was some switching defense that we had to do because Landale is a good three-point shooter. After a very difficult week, I am happy for my players that they managed to resist a very tough game and win. [Zalgiris] shot very good versus Panathinaikos and today they missed more shots. I think the pressure was on them. I told my guys that if we are close in the second half on the scoreboard, they might have pressure and maybe because of this they missed more shots than usual."

"I saw, of course, the game against Panathinaikos and I showed to my players, aside from the video scouting that we usually do, I showed them the last 5 minutes of the game, how Zalgiris was fighting and in 5:11 scored, I think, 21 points or something like that one week ago. I told my players that if we want to win, we have to stop this."

Players

LANDALE, JOCK
Zalgiris Kaunas
"Defensively we were good. We had mental lapses down the stretch though. Offense wasn't going for us as well. They’re renowned for their defense, they’re a defensive team. We just weren't making shots today. We have to get back in the gym and work on that and that goes for everyone. Their offensive intensity was a little better than ours. They were getting through screens. We weren't even setting screens half the time. We’re in a hole and we have to figure out how to get out of it. We’re on a four-game losing streak. It sucks. Everyone is suffering because of it. It’s not a good feeling for us at all."
BARON, BILLY
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"We played hard. We knew this was going to be a bar fight coming into it. It was going to be a low-scoring game, two teams that play good defense, and it was. We were just able to make one more play than them. They're obviously a well-coached team and they know how to play the game the right way, so we knew we were going to be in for a full 40-minute fight, especially in their arena. So I’m thankful for this win. We needed this win for sure. It’s been a long week - four games in seven days, so it was good to capitalize on this. We’ve been losing a lot of close games. We've had the leads in the fourth quarters and we just haven't closed the deals. Today I think we took the right step. We learned how to win. I think we’re grateful and we’re ready t get back to Belgrade and continue this streak."
BROWN, LORENZO
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"I think the key is that we were physical on defense. That’s what we lacked on the last game and a couple of games before that, so we made it an emphasis tonight to come out and defend and be aggressive. Honestly, I am [adjusting to low-scoring games]. It's better that way. A lot more energy involved and I feel like guys give it their all. I feel great. The team feels great. You lose some, you win some. It comes with the game. The fact of the matter is we are going to come here and fight each and every game."