LKL finals start with road loss in Klaipeda 0

Lithuanian League (LKL) finals started on Thursday in Klaipeda. The home team Neptunas made it to the finals for the first time, but they managed to stun Zalgiris Kaunas in the first game of the best-of-7 series.

Zalgiris team had a lead in first three quarters, but Neptunas found a way how to stop the greens and took a lead in fourth quarter. They outplayed Zalgiris 20-6 in the last 10 minutes and celebrated a historical victory 71-59.

First quarter was all about Zalgiris. Martynas Pocius started game with 5 straight points, Justin Dentmon added 2 points with a foul and Zalgiris had a 10-2 lead. In the end of the first quarter Arturas Gudaitis was active and the guests were in front 21-11.

Second quarter start was not so easy for Kaunas’ team. Neptunas showed their passion and because of tough defense they cut the difference to 4 points 21-25. After Dentmon, Paulius Jankunas and Vytenis Lipkevicius scored, Zalgiris brought back their lead to 10 points 32-22. The result at halftime was 36-28 in favor of Zalgiris.

Third quarter started with 4 points by the hosts, but Javtokas and Dentmon hit free-throws, Jasikevicius added 2 points and lead was in double-digits again 42-32. Then Neptunas started to defend their basket aggressively and Zalgiris could not make a shot for more than 4 minutes. In last 30 seconds of the quarter Neptunas made few more baskets and the advantage melted to 2 points 53-51.

Fourth quarter started with two Zalgiris buckets (57-53). But then they got stuck in Neptunas’ defense and did not make a shot for more than 5 minutes. During that span Neptunas scored 12 and took a lead 65-57. Last 3 minutes of the game did not make any differences. Zalgiris had to leave the court with their heads down – 59-71.

Top scorers:

Zalgiris: J.Dentmon 13, S.Jasikevicius 13, M.Pocius 10, A.Gudaitis 8, P.Jankunas 7+11reb+5ast, V.Lipkevicius 5, R.Javtokas 2+reb, A.Milaknis 1, T.Klimavicius 0, T.Dimsa 0.

Neptunas: T.Brazelton 16+5reb+5ast, M.Mazeika 12+7reb, S.Galdikas 11+6reb+3blk, J.Sinica 10.