Series tied after game in Kaunas 0
Lietuvos Rytas regained momentum in the Lithuanian League (LKL) finals after a 75:64 victory against Zalgiris on the road in Kaunas to tie the series at 1-1.
The visitors broke away in the second quarter after a 15-4 run that allowed them to gain a 14-point lead at 41:28. The gap continued growing in the second half as Lietuvos Rytas was already ahead 67:50.
With two minutes on the clock, Zalgiris turned their pressure up a notch and got within 62:69, but the visitors shot confidently from the charity-stripe when the home team tried using intentional fouls to prolong the game.
Kenan Bajramovic paced Lietuvos Rytas with 24 points and received the most help from Martynas Gecevicius, who finished the game scoring 18. Arturas Jomantas collected 13 points as Milko Bjelica added 10.
Zalgiris had only two players in double-digits – Dainius Salenga scored 15 and Mantas Kalnietis contributed with 12 points. Arturas Milaknis followed his great first game performance by 8 points this time round.
Rimas Kurtinaitis (Lietuvos Rytas head coach): “I would like to congratulate my players, because we all know how difficult it is to play in Kaunas with a crowd like this. The team-game that we lacked in the first match was there this time.
We improved our one-on-one defense. Mantas Kalnietis and Tadas Klimavicius just knifed through our defense last game, this time we played good defense for the whole game.
Klimavicius has been causing us problems during the whole season. We wanted to double-team him and deny him any space under the rim when battling for rebounds.
Before this game I pointed out that we had to run back to defense to disable the threat from Zalgiris’ fast-breaks. Rebounds were not the key point that I stressed before the game, but when you concentrate, have a feel for the game, it all works out well.
I can’t understand why the league scheduled our game when there a Euroleague Final Four is played at the same time. The whole world is waiting for this event and we have to play during it. Maybe the league isn’t following the schedule.”
Darius Maskoliunas (Zalgiris head coach): “We can’t win a game playing defense for 10 to 12 minutes of the game. We started defending only when they managed to break away. Then we just had no other option. I talked with the players before the game and said the first match was only a small step. The players understood that Lietuvos Rytas isn’t coming to surrender.
We were walking on defense, walking on offense for the first two quarter. Playmaking wasn’t even close to what we talked about.
There was no aggression from Tadas Klimavicius and Martynas Pocius, there wasn’t any help from Aleksandar Capin.
Lietuvos Rytas is worth some praise for correcting what they did wrong in the first game. They had us completely locked during the first two quarters.”
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