Baskonia prolongs its doubts before an effective Zalgiris
Joan Peñarroya’s added another home defeat to a Lithuanian set led by Ulanovas and Smits
MADRID, 10 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Cazoo Baskonia added a new setback in the Regular Phase of the Euroleague 2022-2023 by falling this Friday on matchday 24 by 79-75 in the visit to the Zalgirio Arena, home of Zalgiris Kaunas, after a required match against the Lithuanians against those who showed his current doubts, despite arriving alive at the end of the clash.
The Baskonistas (11/13), who are not going through a period of regularity in the highest continental competition, put their position in the ‘playoffs’ at risk. The great success of Roland Smits (20 points and 5 rebounds), added to the effectiveness of Edgaras Ulanovas (16 and 5), left Kaunas with a triumph of merit that brings them back to level (13/11) with the aspirants for the ‘ Top 8’.
The Basque team could not achieve the objective of getting a victory again as a visitor, which they have not done in the Euroleague since last December 16 when they beat Fenerbahce. Although Markus Howard (15 points) and Rokas Giedraitis (11 and 6) tried to put the team on their backs, as happened last Friday at the Fernando Buesa Arena in the victory against Panathinaikos, this time it did not work out in the final minutes.
Thus, the high scoring rhythm imposed by Baskonia dominated at times the first moments of a game that did not find a clear dominator. The battle between Giedraitis and Byrutis left the best actions of an even first quarter, although with a slight advantage of Zalgiris that prevented the Basques from bringing out their outside potential, forcing them to play from the paint (20-18).
Somewhat thick in attack, Joan Peñarroya’s men did not come out into the second quarter with the scoring success that characterizes the people from Vitoria. In addition, the lack of reliability in the defensive rebounding did not help the visitors to get away on the scoreboard. Even so, the figure of Markus Howard reappeared to become big and begin to dominate on the court, with the permission of a Roland Smits who was also very successful before the break (38-42).
With everything to be decided, the third quarter began with an exchange of blows. Even so, the lack of success from the line of three that Baskonia continued to show ended up giving wings to a local team that did not hesitate to draw blood. Once again Smits stood on the Lithuanian floor to dominate and subdue at times a Basque team that did not want to throw in the towel. Peñarroya’s men rearmed themselves in defense to equalize the match again and reach the end alive (61-60).
Thus, with Enoch correcting his previous errors in the defensive rebound and Marinkovic appearing between the lines to create danger in transitions, the visitors entered the fourth quarter with clear ideas. However, Smits’ success continued to wreak havoc on a Basque defense that did not know how to stop him. Ulanovas also added at home, while Howard was unsuccessful in the last few possessions to save Baskonia this time.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: ZALGIRIS, 79 – CAZOO BASKONIA, 75. (38-42, at halftime).
–EQUIPMENT.
ZALGIRIS KAUNAS: Lekavicius (7), Ulanovs (16), Butkevicius (4), Hayes (2) and Smits (20) –quintet titular– Polonara (1), Giedraitis (3), Lukosiunas, Brazdeikis (15), Dimsa (7) and Byrutis (4).
CAZOO BASCONY: Howard (15), Thompson (7), Giedraitis (11), Costello (6), and Kotsar (12) –starting quintet–; Men (-), Enoch (6), Marinkovic (7), Sedekerskis (6), Heidegger (3), Ten (-), Kurucs (-) and Raieste (2).
–PARTIALS: 20-28, 18-24, 23-18, 18-15.
–REFEREE: Ryzhyk, Jovcic and Peerandi.
–PAVILLION: Zalgirio Arena.