Belgrade “Believed” and brought back to the Red Star Zalgiris

With more solutions and an amazing Francisco, Zalgiris Kaunas won the Red Star in Belgrade 86-80 for the 27th Euroleague and with a 13-14 record reduced to -1 from the top ten and the play-in, leaving the Serbs at 16-11 and the first.

Yiannis Spheropoulos ‘players were ahead until the end of the first half, but the long shots of the Lithuanians brought them to +7 at the end of the thirty minutes, but in the fourth the biggest temper of Zalgiris’ players gave them the victory.

The top of the winners were Francisco with 15, Smailgic with 15 and Sirvidis with 12 points. For the Serbs, Petrusev stood out with 16, Nedovic with 14, Boloby with 12 and Miller-Makindyir with 11 points.

The match

Zalgiris reached 0-5 and 4-8, having more solutions than Serbs at the start of the match and starring Francisco. The continuous three-pointers of their Lithuanians kept +5, but Petrusv with a 7-0 personal series gave the team 16-14 to Yiannis Spheropoulos’ team. Starring in Sirvidis, Zalgiris made a 7-0 series and led +5, but Boloby’s 4-0 person reduced to 20-21 for 22-23 in the first period.

Zalgiris’ 4-0 at the start of the second period brought +4 for Andrea Trinkieri’s players. With various series on either side, the lead was changing hands at regular intervals until the 5-0 series of Lithuania champions carrying +4 for the guests, who, with their consecutive three-pointers and good percentages from the Region, maintained this difference until the 4-0 3-0 person.

The Red Star had 9/14 two -pointers, 6/15 three -pointers, 7/8 shots and 11 rebounds. Zalgiris respectively had 10/16 two -pointers, 7/11 three -pointers 3/3 shots and 11 rebounds.

Nedovic’s three-pointer at the start of the third period brought 46-44 and the Serbs kept +2 at that point with their right choices in the rival racket, starring Petrounev. Smilegic’s three -pointer turned the situation to Trinkieri’s players, who now maintained +1 with +2 with their good rates in two -pointers at that time. Francisco’s three -pointer brought +5 for the Lithuanian champions and the two consecutive Zalgiris then brought it to +8 and Francisco’s +7 to finish the Triants in the attempt to counterattack.

Zalgiris made a 5-0 run at the start of the fourth period and preceded +9 and the consecutive three-pointers kept them at these levels. Nedovic’s three -pointer gave the Serbs hopes of -5, but Zalgiris’s 3-0 series brought it to +8. There, Dunston, with his own 4-0, brought 70-81 and essentially cleaned the match at 2’16 ‘, despite Astera’s 4-0 series.

Butkevicius’ shots made it 74-83. There, the hasty choices of the Lithuanians gave the opportunity for a 4-0 home side and 78-83 at 1’02 ”. Butkevicius’ shooting in the shots kept +4 with +6 for Zalgiris, Dunston made 80-86 and the continuous Serbian three-pointers in the last seconds gave Zalgiris the victory.

The quarters: 22-23, 43-44, 60-67, 80-86

The statistics