After leading most of the match, but after the victory against “Crvena zvezda” on Tuesday, Žalgiris’s team did not immediately accelerate in the confrontation with “Real”, but managed to break the course of the match in the fourth quarter .
Going into the second half the score was still tied at 66-66, but then Zalgiris went ahead 15-3 and beat the Royals at home for the second straight season.
Edgaras Ulanovas, who broke a career high for shooting, made a significant contribution to this.
Eriko Ovcharenko/SNB photo/Moment of the match
The “Zalgiris” captain took responsibility when others feared him, and shot a total of 16 times from the game (3/10 doubles, 3/6 triples, 4/4 penalties), scored 19 points, rebounded 4 balls and collected 13 utility points.
He saved the team especially in the middle of the third quarter, when Real, feeling the pace, erased Zalgiris’ record 7-point lead and aimed to run ahead, but 8 consecutive points from E. Ulanov helped control the storm and stay close to the guests of Madrid.
“Maybe the beauty of basketball was inferior to the fighting, that’s what made this match stand out,” said E. Ulanovas after the match. – Combativeness determined the end of the match, especially at the end, when Arnas provoked an argument, Rolandas Šmitas “got” Tavares’ elbow. We played really badly in attack, the brake was applied, some didn’t trust their strength, even though we encouraged them to play bravely. There was a lot of improvisation, luckily those shots fell in the third quarter, but do you have to settle for that side, the offensive one, to get back into the game with hard shots? I don’t know, I would like to do better, especially against Real. Their defense is certainly not magical, pushing everything on Tavares and relying only on him.
But on the other hand the character was great today, the conviction despite several defeats in a row, despite the absence of several people. There can be some pressure, but it has to be: we can’t think about losing, we can’t think about winning, we have to look to the next game.”
After the victory of “Žalgiris”, which did not have Lukas Lekavičius and Igno Brazdeikis, against “Real”, E. Ulanovs talked about the emotions, the blocked attack, the exemplary fighting spirit of Arno Butkevičius and Tyler Cavanaugh’s shooting.
– You showed a lot of emotions, you were angry even after the second half. Is the reason for this a lack of creativity and the fact that you had to take the initiative yourself?
– It’s normal, basketball is such a game. You analyze, you look at situations, everything happens. It won’t always go well. The most important thing is that something happens, some kind of emotion, I get through it more and enjoy it when I can experience it – both bad and good emotions.
– In the third quarter, your eight points scored in a row, if it wasn’t for them, Real would have been 17-0. At that moment, did you feel the captain’s responsibility to push the team through difficult times?
– I repeat myself, but I really told those who were on the field to play more courageously – don’t look around, don’t wait, there is nothing terrible here. It was the same with the Efes moments. Yes, he’s a champion, but we’re collected people, as much as we have for today, that’s all we have. It is better to lose and know that you are lost than not to take this responsibility. Yes, I missed a few shots, it was a big hit before, you will notice some mistakes on my part, but I knew it didn’t matter. We still had a lot of time, a quarter and a half, it’s good that he crashed. But I’m saying, from an offensive perspective, you’re not going to win that many games in the long run. Teamwork is required.
Eriko Ovcharenko/SNB photo/Moment of the match
– Organized attack was very blocked, creativity was low. What are you trying to resist?
– I don’t know, there were probably very few assists today (12 – post author). One thing is the defense of “Real”, which helps nothing, pushing towards Tavares, causing medium or long shots after dribbling. We are building hard to break through, to attract the strong side, but it hasn’t happened at all.
Also Evans wasn’t there at all, he was offline, but he’s struggling. All coaches and let’s say Keenan has to take responsibility because it’s not going to happen any other way. On the other side, it was difficult for him, Belgrade suffocated, did not allow the ball to be taken, the defenders defended. Now it will be like this, the other first and second numbers will have to be put to the test, they will have to take the weight off them.
– You mentioned Arno Butkevičius’ combativeness, how much does it infect the whole team?
– Actually, today was determined by such episodes. Not points, not assists or anything else, but 50-50 balls. Someone falls somewhere, looks, looks around, and our people pick it up and react. Those games with just minutes left and the score close could go either way. There are almost 11 meters of penalty here (smiles). Dovis missed a free throw in Belgrade, Rolandas missed and Vildoza scored in the last second. And you know you did everything right, but in the end you lost the game.
We won today and I think we deserved to win because today we were better than them in terms of fighting. I am very happy for the whole team.
Eriko Ovcharenko/SNB photo/Moment of the match
– You hit a triple yourself, Keenan Evans hit it over the high hands of Walter Tavares. How much did Mike James’ deciding triple off Tavares look like that three-pointer last week?
– It’s really hard to play against them and attack them. They keep their distance, they don’t allow a run, but since they have long arms, they give the throw away. After a few years, you start to doubt what is normal. But it’s good that the shots fell. On the other hand, neither Keenan nor I were afraid to take responsibility and make decisions in those moments. Sometimes difficult blows fall, but the most important thing is victory. There is room for improvement in attack, but let’s celebrate today.
– One of the people who shot was Tyler Cavanaugh. How many matches like this did he need?
– Such a match is very important for everyone. This year, in many of those matches, when we attack a lot one by one, there is sometimes a lack of team spirit. We should create more situations for Tyler, Karol, our pitchers, but it often ends up being one-on-one. It’s all our job to connect them because too few of us do. They are the articulate shooters of our team, we have to create situations for them and it doesn’t matter what the defense is. They have to walk on the ball and they have to have free throws.
As for Tyler, it wasn’t just the shooting, it was the fight that went on today super – both went on the balls and pushed aggressively, showing emotion. Really amazing.
