Zalgiris wins Game 3 in front of green crowd 26

Zalgiris Kaunas took control of its playoff series with an 80-60 rout of Olympiacos Piraeus in Game 3 at the packed Zalgirio Arena on Tuesday night. The Lithuanian champs grabbed a 2-1 series lead and can clinch a historic Final Four berth if they win Game 4 at home on Thursday.

Zalgiris took charge with a 12-0 second-quarter run to lead by as many as 17. Olympiacos battled back to within 47-36 at halftime and Vassilis Spanoulis rallied the Reds to within 7 in the third, but Zalgiris captain Paulius Jankunas stepped up with all his team’s points in a 9-1 run and the hosts never looked back.

Brandon Davies starred with 18 points, Jankunas finished with 13, Kevin Pangos scored 12 and Axel Toupane 10. Zalgiris’s 72.7% two-point shooting (24 of 33) tied for the third-best by any team in playoff history. The hosts outrebounded Olympiacos 33-27 and dished 23 assists to the visitors’ 12.

Vassilis Spanoulis paced Olympiacos with 14 points and Brian Roberts added 11. The 20-point loss was the worst playoff defeat for Olympiacos since 2008.

Olympiacos controlled the opening tip and Jamel McLean got the visitors going with a basket inside before Zalgiris guard Vasilije Micic scored at the other end. A pull-up jumper and fast-break layup by Roberts gave the Reds a 4-10 edge. Kevin Pangos and Roberts traded three-pointers and Jankunas drew Zalgiris within 11-13. The wave of Zalgiris substitutions paid dividends as Antanas Kavaliauskas, Toupane, Aaron White and Beno Udrih all scored in the final three minutes of the first quarter to give the hosts a 21-19 lead after 10 minutes.

After Olympiacos closed the gap to 1, Davies scored 5 straight points and White converted a three-point play during a 12-0 run that gave Zalgiris a 37-24 advantage. Spanoulis snapped a four-minute scoring gap for Olympiacos with free throws, but fantastic ball movement by Zalgiris resulted in a Davies slam, Zalgiris fans on their feet and an Olympiacos timeout. After Pangos put the hosts up by 16, Spanoulis stepped up for his team, but Zalgiris matched him basket for basket and even extended the lead to 47-30 on Arturas Milaknis’s free throw. Olympiacos slashed its deficit through Nikola Milutinov’s put-back and foul and a Vangelis Mantzaris triple to make it 47-36 at the break.

Zalgiris padded its lead early in the third quarter with baskets by Davies and free throws by Pangos to go ahead 53-39. Spanoulis was fouled, capitalized on a technical foul on Kavaliauskas and added a layup to bring the visitors within 7. With the pressure on, Zalgiris turned to Jankunas, who sank a free throw and then buried jumpers on consecutive possessions to make it 58-46. After Kim Tillie split free throws, Jankunas tallied 4 more points to cap a personal 9-1 run for a 15-point lead. Great ball movement by Zalgiris sets up Toupane for a three on the third-quarter buzzer and a 67-50 lead.

Toupane buried a three-pointer and was fouled three and a half minutes into the fourth quarter. The play took the margin into the 20s and brought the sea of green in the stands to its feet once more. Georgios Printezis scored his first basket midway through the fourth quarter, but the outcome was clear by that time. The lead peaked at 80-56 on an Udrih jumper with two minutes to go as the Zalgiris faithful celebrated a historic victory.