“Air” passed from Vitoria and Zalgiris remains close to the top

Having the lead throughout the match, Zalgiris Kaunas defeated Baskonia 99-82 in Vitoria for the fourth game of the Euroleague and reached 3-1 their record, leaving the Basques at 1-3 and low in the standings.

The players of Kazis Maksvitis reached +15 in the second half, having been stable since the start of the match and reached the final victory with 14/21 three-pointers and 21/23 shots.

Leaders of the Lithuanian champions were Smits, Manek with 17, Evans with 14 and Giedraitis, Dima with 13 points. For the Basques, Moneke did their best with 32 and Howard with 26 points.

The match

Dimsa and Schmitz helped Zalgiris to 5-0 and 9-2 early leads. Evans took over the offensive “baton” for the Lithuanian champions and maintained +2 to +5 under the pressure of the Baskonia regionals. Mitrou-Long with a personal 4-0 run made it 12-18 and a new 4-0 run by Lithuanian international Kazis Maksvitis made it 14-22 at the end of the first quarter.

Manek’s 3-pointers at the beginning of the second period made it 14-30 and made the visitors’ run 8-0. Back-to-back 3-pointers by the Basques cut it to 20-30, but Manek’s new 3-pointers made it 22-35 and 25-38 for Zalgiris, and he went 3/3 from the 6.75 line. There, Howard suddenly “fired” and with ten personal points he helped in a 12-0 run by Baskonia for the Basques 37-38. Mitrou-Long helped spark a 6-0 Zalgirs run for a 39-46 halftime lead. The Basques had 10/11 shots and 14 rebounds and the Lithuanians 7/11 three-pointers, 5/5 shots and 18 rebounds.

Biroutis and Giedraitis’ 3-pointers made it 10-0 for Zalgiris and +14 at the start of the third period. Two more three-pointers by Schmitz made it 44-62 and the 12/18 total outside 6.75, with steady help from Monecke inside the racket. Miller-McIntyre took matters into his own hands and answered the home team with a 6-0 run to make it 55-66. Dimsa answered for Zalgiris in consecutive attacks and brought +16, to finish the third quarter at 61-74.

Manek kept +15 for Zalgiris at the start of the fourth period, but Manek started a “crescendo” from 6.75 and reduced to 70-79 and he himself brought it 73-79, with Baskonia’s streak reaching 9 -0 in that time. Mannion cut to 75-80, but a 4-0 run by Zalgiris made it 75-84. Moneke did his best, but Zalgiris’ shooting accuracy made it 78-88 and now the difference was between +8 and +10, despite Moneke’s efforts. A 7-0 Zalgiris run made the final 82-99.

The quarters: 14-22, 39-46, 61-74-82-99

The statistics