Forward “Zalgiris”: Schmidt sacrificed body and face for the team

Rolands Šmits | Photo: Dainius Lukšta

Tyler Cavanaugh, player of Lithuanian basketball giant “Žalgiris” Kaunas in a conversation with the team’s press service praised the Latvian after the ULEB Euroleague match against Real Madrid Roland Schmidt for the work done for the team.

It has already been announced that Šmits scored seven points on Thursday and helped the Kaunas team “Žalgiris” ULEB Euroleague “Real” Madrid wins in the 14th round match. The match in Kaunas ended with the score 81:72 (18:21, 19:14, 19:20, 25:17) in favor of the hosts. Schmidt showed an excellent game in defense, grabbing several important rebounds, getting one in attack just over three minutes before the end of regular time, immediately after he also scored two points and gave “Žalgiris” the lead (68:66) .

However, one of the episodes ended painfully for the Latvian: Valters Tavares elbowed Schmidt in the face less than two minutes before the end of regular time, which caused an unsportsmanlike remark, but ended the match prematurely. However, the blow received will probably have no consequences, admitted the team’s coach Kazis Maksvītis after the match.

“We know Tavers is huge and will struggle for rebounds offensively, so you can’t give him space. He tends to go under and extend his elbows. Schmidt sacrificed his body and his face for the team. This is an important thing. In retrospect, it was a game-changing four-pointer. We have fighters in the team and they showed it in this match” Cavanaugh admitted after the win.

Schmidt does dirty work and gets hit in the face, ‘Žalgiris’ shocks ‘Real’ (VIDEO)