Zalgiris falls short in Berlin 8
ALBA Berlin continued its strong trend as it fended off Zalgiris Kaunas 82-74 at home for its fourth win in the last five games.
ALBA nearly wasted a 17-point lead, but put the game away with a 4 straight three-pointers in the fourth quarter to improve to 10-16. Johannes Thiemann led ALBA with a career high 17 points, including 3 of those fourth quarter triples, while Jaleen Smith scored 16 points and both Maodo Lo and Luke Sikma had 12.
Zalgiris saw its three-game winning streak end in falling to 6-20. Tyler Cavanaugh paced Zalgiris with 18 points, Arturas Milaknis chipped in 14 points and Josh Nebo added 12 points and 8 rebounds.
Luke Sikma opened the game with a jumper and Cavanaugh converted a putback at the other end. Janis Strelnieks’s three-pointer gave Zalgiris its first lead, 4-5. ALBA made its first six shots – including a pair of Lo layups – for a 12-5 lead. The hosts went more than 2 minutes without a score and Zalgiris pulled within 12-10. The gap was back to 6 twice, but Niels Giffey and Paulius Jankunas both knocked down triples and the game was even at 22-22. The score was tied again, 24-24, after 10 minutes.
Thiemann opened the second quarter with the first 6 points and Smith buried a triple as the ALBA lead extended to 37-24. Zalgiris failed to score for the first 7:39 minutes until Milaknis’s three-pointer. Smith added another triple and Lo netted 4 more points as the margin swelled to 44-27. Jankunas gave Zalgiris at least a bit of a positive before the break with a three-pointer and the score was 44-30 at the intermission.
Zalgiris had the better start to the second half with Nebo scoring 4 points and Milaknis draining a three-pointer to finish a 2-9 surge to pull within 46-39. Milaknis’s next three-pointer cut it to 6 points only to see Smith answer from deep. Cavanaugh, however, drained back-to-back triples and Zalgiris was within 53-50. The visitors’ attack dried up, failing to score in the final 3:39 minutes and Jonas Mattisseck’s floater just before the buzzer gave ALBA a 59-50 lead after 30 minutes.
Lukas Lekavicius opened the final frame with a triple and the advantage was down to 6 points. ALBA punched right back with 4 straight three-pointers – 3 of them from Thiemann – and the margin was 71-55 with 7 minutes to play. Zalgiris was not done yet as Milaknis made another three-pointer and Nebo tallied 7 points in a 2-13 run to pull within 73-68 with 3 minutes left. Nebo rebounded a missed free throw and dished to Cavanaugh for a three-pointer to make it 77-73. Smith was not impressed as he coolly knocked down another triple with 76 seconds left for an 80-73 cushion. Sikma ended any doubts with a layup with 32 seconds remaining.
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