We remind you that this was a friendly four-team tournament in London, which Sabenas Lee missed due to injury.
Kaunas took 3rd place in it, as yesterday, in the tournament semifinal, they suffered a dramatic defeat against the EuroLeague-playing “Paris” club (82:83).
Understand instantly
Masiulis after the first “Žalgiris” loss: “Cold heads lacked at the end”
Valančiūnas downplayed “Žalgiris” failure: “Not everything will happen overnight”
This was the only “Žalgiris” defeat in this preparation phase. Before that, Kaunas defeated Riga “Zel” (Latvia) 97:85, beat Utena “Juventus” 82:77, and crushed Baku “Sabah” (Azerbaijan) 112:78.
In the confrontation with the “Śląsk” team, “Žalgiris” gained a double-digit lead for the first time in the second quarter (38:28), and pulled away overwhelmingly after the halftime break.
The Lithuanian champions’ advantage was obvious – they grabbed as many as 20 offensive rebounds (“Śląsk” – 8), but Kaunas hit only 20% of their shots from afar (7/35 three-pointers).
However, they converted 64.5% of two-pointers (20/31) and lost only 8 balls.
“Žalgiris”: Dustinas Sleva 17 (1/5 three-pointers, 6/7 free throws, 22 efficiency), Jonas Valančiūnas (8/9 free throws, 8 personal fouls, 7 rebounds, 26 efficiency) and Edgaras Ulanovas (5/6 two-pointers) – 12 each, Ažuolas Tubelis, Marius Grigonis and Deividas Sirvydis (2/7 three-pointers) – 8 each, Sterlingas Brown 6, Carsenas Edwards 5 (1/4 three-pointers), Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu 4 (6 rebounds), Arnas Butkevičius and Maodo Lo – 3 each, Dovydas Giedraitis 0 (0/5 three-pointers, 23 min.).
“Śląsk”: Devin Robinson 15 (4/9 two-pointers, 4/4 free throws, 6 rebounds), Matthew Rogers 11 (3/6 two-pointers), Malik Parsons 8 (4/9 two-pointers, 5 assists), Blazej Czerniewicz 7 (4/4 free throws) and Isaiah Moore 6.
Wroclaw “Śląsk” is the most titled Polish basketball club (with 18 national championship titles), but last season they fell already in the Polish championship quarterfinals. This season they will play in the European Cup.
For “Žalgiris”, these were the last friendly matches in this preparation phase. T. Masiulis’ trainees will start next week – on September 17 – in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) away game against “Gargždai”.
In the EuroLeague, “Žalgiris” will play their first new season game on September 24, also away against Belgrade “Crvena zvezda” (Serbia).
