Zalgiris one win away from LKL championship 0
It might seem all but over for Lietuvos Rytas to win the Lithuanian League (LKL) championship for the third year in a row with Zalgiris winning game four of the best-of-seven series 83-71 (20-14, 24-19, 20-20, 19-18) to take a 3-1 lead, which puts them one win away from the LKL crown.
With six minutes in the fourth period, a three-pointer from Lietuvos Rytas’ guard Aleksandar Rasic had closed the gap to 66-68, but Zalgiris stepped up on defense and didn’t allow the team from Vilnius to score the next four minutes.
The visiting Zalgiris side had the lead for the majority of the game and even had a double-digit lead heading into halftime after Mantas Kalnietis sunk a buzzer-beater from mid-court to make it a 44-33 advantage for the Greens with two quarters to go.
Lietuvos Rytas can’t lose another game in order to keep the series alive and will need three victories in a row – two of which would have to come on the road in Kaunas – to win the LKL trophy and get a direct qualification spot in Euroleague next season.
In addition to losing, there was more bad news for Lietuvos Rytas as their Serbian playmaker Aleksandar Rasic, who scored 9 points and dished out 6 assists in the game, appears to have broken his nose. It is still unclear whether Rasic will play in the next game in Kaunas.
DeJuan Collins was the top-scorer for Zalgiris with 15 points, Marcus Brown had 14 while Paulius Jankunas finished the game with 11 points in his account. Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Mantas Kalnietis both had 9 points, Boban Marjanovic played well defensively and added 7 points as well as Trent Plaisted added 6.
Lietuvos Rytas was led by Simas Jasaitis, who scored 17 points, Kenan Bajramovic had 16 points and 8 rebounds, while Milko Bjelica and Martynas Gecevicius both had 8 points.
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