Rolands Šmits | Photo: BC “Barcelona”
Latvian basketball player Rolands Šmits scored three points in the ULEB Euroleague fourth round match on Friday, but Jānis Strēlnieks did not play in another game due to injury. Schmidt’s “Barcelona” outperformed the “Monaco” in the overtime with a result of 85:81 (12:22, 19:13, 25:19, 19:21, 10: 6).
Schmidt played 13 minutes and 46 seconds on Friday, during which he made his only long shot, made one mistake and broke the rules three times. In Barcelona, Brendon Davis was the most productive player with 27 points, ten rebounds and eight provoked fouls, with 38 efficiency points allowing him to claim the most valuable player of the round. Nikolas Mirotičs had 14 points, but Nikolas Laprovitola and Nick Kalatess scored 12 points, who also won 11 balls under the baskets and returned five assists.
Mike James had 16 points, but 15 points and nine rebounds were won by Will Thomas. The Barcelona team has won all four Euroleague games.
Meanwhile, Kaunas “Žalgiris”, represented by Sagittarius, will visit the Piraeus “Olympiakos” team on Friday, where the Latvian once played for two seasons. “Žalgiris” lost with the result 68:83 (23:12, 16:24, 10:27, 19:20) and suffered the fourth failure of the season. On the day of the game, the club announced that Sagittarius and Paulus Jankūns had injured their leg muscles, due to which they could not leave the field in the fourth round.
Emanuel Mudiejs stood out in the Kaunas team with 19 points, who was selected in the 2015 draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the seventh number three choices under Kristaps Porziņģis. Artūrs Milaknis added another 14 points, but Joshua Nebo had 12 points.
Kosts Sluks scored 17 points, Jannulis Larencakis added 13 and Sasha Vezenkovs scored 12.
Moscow’s CSKA was successful on Friday, beating Belgrade’s “Crvena zvezda mts” with a score of 78:76 (17:21, 25:21, 15:15, 21:19). The victory, however, is a weak consolation for the Muscovites, as it became known on Friday that the most valuable player of the previous two rounds, Tornike Shengelia, will not be able to play for at least two months due to a right shoulder injury.
Will Klaibērns was the most productive in the CSKA ranks with 18 points, but Aleksejs Šveds scored 16 points. In the Belgrade team, Nate Walters and Ogen Kuzmich scored 16 and 14 points, respectively, the latter also winning seven rebounds.
Also this season, ten countries with 18 teams are represented in the Euroleague, which is the same as in the previous season. The teams will play a two-lap tournament, with the top eight entering the playoffs. The Euroleague champion will be determined in Berlin, where the final four tournament will take place. Last season, the champion was Istanbul’s “Anadolu Efes”, which beat “Barcelona” in the final.
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