Zalgiris gets big win over Panathinaikos in Kaunas 17
Zalgiris Kaunas took an impressive 80-68 (25-25, 19-13, 20-18, 16-12) victory over Panathinaikos Athens in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Round 25 game at Zalgirio Arena. The Lithuanian side is now 4-0 at home under Andrea Trinchieri and has improved to a 10-15 record.
Keenan Evans was everywhere with 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting – including 4-of-5 on threes – 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals and 0 turnovers in 28 minutes for a PIR of 35. Laurynas Birutis had 12 points and Rolands Smits and Edgaras Ulanovas both scored 10 points.
Panathinaikos got 26 points from Kendrick Nunn, Marius Grigonis scored 15 points and Mathias Lessort added 14 points. But the rest of the team combined for just 13 points. The Greek side fell to 15-10 after having won nine of its last 11 games.
Both offenses were in fine form in the first 10 minutes and neither team could really open any kind of significant gap as the game was even, 25-25, after the first quarter.
Panathinaikos had the better start to the second frame and led 27-33. Zalgiris fought back and led 44-38 at the break.
The cushion grew to 49-41, but Panathinaikos fought back to 49-48. Zalgiris eventually pulled away for a 64-56 lead after 30 minutes.
Zalgiris needed more than 3 minutes to score in the final frame but allowed only 2 free throws and raced away to a 70-58 lead with 6 minutes left. Zalgiris came up with one defensive stop after the next and never let Panathinaikos back into the game.
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