After playing the last friendly matches at the “Žalgiris” arena, we invite you to review them once again and remember the 3 most important highlights.
FULL PICTURE
On Sunday evening, we already had the opportunity to see all the weapons of the upcoming “Žalgiris” season, as Ąžuolas Tubelis, Maodo Lo, and Marekas Blaževičius returned from national teams and were included in the team’s rotation.
As the head coach Tomas Masiulis said after the game, Ą.Tubelis and M.Lo are not newcomers, so getting into rhythm is not difficult, and according to the strategist, M.Blaževičius should fully integrate into the overall team picture within a couple of weeks.
Speaking about the game, Ą.Tubelis (5/5 two-pointers, 2/4 free throws) no longer surprises anyone – in just under 12 minutes, the big man scored 12 points, delighted with a couple of dunks, and did not miss a single shot from the field, and he did not play in the fourth quarter.
M.Lo (1/2 two-pointers, 2/3 three-pointers), who also started in the starting five, did not have much time to shine in the first quarter and only missed one three-pointer. However, during his second stint before the long break, he added a two-pointer and a long shot, and also recorded an assist.
Still, the most impressive in the stats during the game against “Sabah” was M.Blaževičius (6/8 two-pointers, 5/8 free throws) – 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 24 efficiency points. It is worth mentioning that the big man was among the five Žalgiris players who played more than 20 minutes in the game.
LOOSE BASKET
If in the first two friendly matches T.Masiulis’ charges were not yet adapted from long range, probably influenced by the physical load during training, yesterday the Žalgiris players more than made up for it.
In the first game against “Zelli” they hit 8, and in the second match against “Juventus” they added 6, on Sunday evening Žalgiris hit 19 three-pointers. Only four Žalgiris players did not score from long range – Jonas Valančiūnas, Ą.Tubelis, and M.Blaževičius did not attempt a three-pointer, and Sabenas Lee missed a couple of long shots (0/1 two-pointers, 0/2 three-pointers, 3/4 free throws).
It was clear from the very first minutes that there would be a rain of three-pointers on Nemunas Island, when Nigel Williams-Goss (0/1 two-pointers, 2/4 three-pointers) started the game with two accurate long shots, and Žalgiris hit 5 three-pointers in the first quarter in total.
The most three-pointers – 7 each – were thrown yesterday by Marius Grigonis (1/1 two-pointers, 3/7 three-pointers, 0/1 free throws) and Sterling Brown (1/2 two-pointers, 4/7 three-pointers), who enjoyed shooting from long distance the most and made 4 three-pointers. S.Brown also became the first Žalgiris player this season to score the team’s 100th point. The American who did it with a three-pointer was introduced to sushi traditions in the locker room after the game.
The last time Žalgiris collected such a number of three-pointers was in the 2024–2025 season, when they achieved an impressive victory in the Lithuanian Basketball League against Utena “Juventus” (128:67). At that time, the green and whites hit 21 three-pointers out of 29, and Lukas Lekavičius made 6 out of 7.
DOMINATION
The victory with a difference of 34 points is so far the biggest in this cycle of Žalgiris’ preparation for the upcoming season. Already in the first 80 seconds, the hosts set the tone for this game (8:2), and although the guests had equalized and even taken the lead in the first quarter, at the beginning of the second quarter Žalgiris players went on a 9:0 run and did not let go of the advantage (37:20).
The fighting spirit of Žalgiris was also pleasing, as evidenced by 19 offensive rebounds. The ball sharing was also excellent, as Žalgiris recorded 33 assists, of which N.Williams-Goss had 8.
Finally, the number of mistakes decreased, with Žalgiris making only 8 this time.
Already on September 10–11, Žalgiris will participate in the “London Lions Invitational” tournament in London, competing against Paris Basketball, Wroclaw Śląsk, and London Lions teams. You will be able to watch live broadcasts of Žalgiris games on the “Žalgiris Insider” platform.
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