Kaunas Akropolis Cup: Zalgiris blew off Panathinaikos 0

Zalgiris Kaunas won easily the first semifinal of the Kaunas Akropolis Cup yesterday against Panathinaikos Athens with the score 76-51.

Just before the beginning of the game Zalgirio Arena has been the awesome location of the ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the Club, where green fans and important guests not only from Lithuanian but also from European basketball blew out the 70 candles of Zalgiris Kaunas history.

The ceremony has been also the occasion to witness the moment in which Zalgiris Kaunas’ legend Arvydas Sabonis has seen his #11 jersey retired.

After this very touching moment basketball came back to the court of Zalgirio Arena. Coach Krapikas’ players, dressed in retro jerseys, faced Dimitris Diamantidis and his teammates for the first game of the pre-season tournament.

The first points of the game came from captain Paulius Jankunas who hit the first three pointer of his almost perfect game. The Zalgiris’ started strong and led 13-2. Panathinaikos had some difficulties defending the perimeter and even their great offensive rebounding just slightly reduced the margin at the end of the first quarter with the score of 23-16.

The things did not change in the second quarter. Robertas Javtokas and Darius Songalia opened the office and in a matter of minutes brought their teammates to the solid lead of 17 points (37-20).

The third quarter allowed Arturas Gudaitis to show some skills under the basket. The attention that Greek defense had to point to the big guys opened the space for the shooters. Arturas Milaknis was ready to use such kind of freedom and increased the lead at the end of the third quarter to 56-36.

The fourth quarter was just for the chronicles. Zalgiris Kaunas maintained a solid lead (76-51) that gave the home team the first spot to the final of the Kaunas Akropolis Cup. Later the home team was joined by Lokomotiv-Kuban Krasnodar which won the second semifinal against Galatasaray Istanbul 85-65.

„Zalgiris“: P.Jankunas 14, V.Kariniauskas 12, A.Gudaitis 11, A.Milaknis 8, D.Songaila 8, E.Ulanovas 7, R.Javtokas 6, S.Vene 5, J.Anderson 3, T.Dimsa 2, L.Lekavicius 0, V.Lipkevicius 0.

„Panathinaikos“: E.Batista 20, J.Gist 15.