Zalgiris finishes season with home win
Zalgiris Kaunas never trailed in taking care of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 93-78 on Thursday night at Zalgirio Arena. A 14-0 run early in the second half helped the Lithuanian champs pull away for good and the lead reached 24 in the fourth quarter as Zalgiris cruised to victory. The result gave Zalgiris a 17-17 record at the end of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season. Panathinaikos dropped to 11-21 and still has two games remaining. Lukas Lekavicius paced the Zalgiris scorers with 20 points on 3-of-5 three-point shooting, Thomas Walkup tallied 18 points and 5 assists and Rokas Jokubaitis added 10 points. Nemanja Nedovic scored 17 points and Ben Bentil 13 for Panathinaikos in defeat.
Efes cruises past Zalgiris for seven straight
Anadolu Efes Istanbul continued its fabulous form by brushing aside Zalgiris Kaunas 89-62 in Istanbul on Friday. Efes, which has now won seven straight, made a blistering start to take a double-digit lead inside the first quarter. That advantage exceeded 20 early in the second and Zalgiris never got close. Shane Larkin led the way with 18 points, while backcourt teammates Vasilije Micic (17) and Rodrigue Beaubois (12) also shone. Sertac Sanli scored 12 and Krunoslav Simon added 11. Thomas Walkup paced Zalgiris with 15 points and 8 assists, Marius Grigonis netted 14 and Augustine Rubit paired 13 points with 8 rebounds. Efes improves to 18-10 while Zalgiris remains outside the playoffs places at 15-14.
Shields, Punter lead Milan in Kaunas
AX Armani Exchange Milan returned to winning ways in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season by topping Zalgiris Kaunas 64-69 on the road on Friday. Milan improved to 18-10 in the standings and registered its eighth road victory in the current EuroLeague campaign. Zalgiris dropped to 15-13 and saw its seven-game home win streak ended. Shavon Shields led the winners with 23 points. Kevin Punter added 14 while Kyle Hines and Luigi Datome each had 10 for Milan. Marius Grigonis led Zalgiris with 17 points. Joffrey Lauvergne added 15 while Lukas Lekavicius had 11 for the hosts. Punter had 9 first-quarter points to give Milan a 13-17 lead after 10 minutes. Zalgiris got within 32-34 at halftime but Milan improved its defense after the break, boosting its margin to 45-50 at the end of the third quarter. Grigonis and Lekavicius brought Zalgiris within 62-64 but Punter downed a jumper and Shields added 3-of-4 free throws to seal the victory.
Real s defense stops Zalgiris
Real Madrid returned to its winning ways by downing Zalgiris Kaunas 70-58 at WiZink Center on Thursday. Real improved to 16-10 in the standings and grabbed its second win against the Lithuanian champs this season. Zalgiris dropped to 13-12 and is now on a three-game losing streak. Gabriel Deck led the winners with 14 points and Jaycee Carroll and Trey Thompkins each added 12 for Real. Paulius Jankunas led Zalgiris with 13 points and Nigel Hayes added 11. Nico Laprovittola led a 16-2 run that gave Real the lead for good, 18-8. Zalgiris managed to get within 39-38, but Deck had 6 points in an 8-0 run that gave Real a 51-42 edge at the end of the third quarter. Real boosted its margin to 64-48 and never looked back.
Feb 25, 2021 by Euroleague.net Print
When he entered the game against CSKA Moscow to start the second quarter on Thursday night, Olympiacos Piraeus guard Vassilis Spanoulis hit yet another major milestone in his illustrious career, becoming just the third player to appear in 350 or more Turkish Airlines EuroLeague games.
The two players who preceded Spanoulis to 350 games met each other on Thursday. Going into their game, all-time leader Paulius Jankunas of Zalgiris Kaunas had 366 games to his credit while Real Madrid center Felipe Reyes had 353.
Spanoulis finished his milestone night with 5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals as Olympiacos made up all of a 25-point deficit but lost at home, 74-75.