Kazios Maksvytis’ students lost to their opponents at home 79:83 (19:23, 18:23, 22:11, 20:26).
Before the match, the most active fans of “Žalgiris” from the “Green White Boys” tribune showed their support for coach K. Maksvytis and captain Edgar Ulanov with chants dedicated to them.
“Žalgiris” played without the injured Arno Butkevičius, Lukas Lekavičius and Brady Manek and played with a 9-man rotation.
In this meeting, Monaco’s Mike James moved into third place on the list of all-time Euroleague top scorers, overtaking Juan Carlos Navarro. Above M. James – only Nando De Colo and Vassilis Spanoulis.
He caused the most trouble, scoring 25 points and grabbing 8 balls. True, after 5.5 assists, the defender did not complete any this time.
D. Motiejūnas, representing “Monaco”, played the worst match of the season and for the first time left the court “minus” and without points – in 15 minutes he missed all five two-pointers, a three-pointer, grabbed three balls, made two mistakes and collected -5 utility points.
Rolandas Šmitas scored a double-double for Žalgiris, scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Tomas Dimša added 14 points, E. Ulanov and Keenan Evans (3/11) 10 each.
On Tuesday, the Kaunas lost 62:64 to the outsider of the league Berlin ALBA, so they ended the double week of the Euroleague “empty”.
“Žalgiris” will play their next match on December 14, when “Partizan” Belgrade will come to Kaunas.
Zalgiris led early in the match, but Monaco soon took control and quickly built up a double-digit lead, leading 46-37 at halftime.
After the break, the three-pointers of T. Dimša and E. Ulanov ignited the Kaunian team, rookie Edmond Sumner scored six points in a few minutes, and “Žalgiris” after winning the period 11-0, was in front again – 59:54.
In the decisive quarter, “Žalgiris” had a hard time finding a way to the basket, but with less than four minutes left to play, after R. Šmit’s three-pointer, the teams were separated by only one point – 68:69.
However, Zalgiris stopped then, and after Jaron Blossomgame’s three-pointer and M. James’ two-pointer, “Monaco” fell behind 76:68. The points of K. Evans and R. Šmitas brought “Žalgiris” back into the fight, but the guests won the victory after taking penalties almost without mistakes.
“Zalgiris”: T. Dimša 14, R. Šmitas 13 (11 rebounds), E. Ulanovas and K. Evans 10 each, E. Sumneris 9, D. Giedraitis 8, L. Birutis (7 rebounds) and K. Hayes 6 each, D. Lavrinovic 3.
„Monaco“: M. Jamesas 25, J. Blossomgame’as 13, E. Okobo 12, A. Diallo 11, P. Cornelie 9.
2023-12-08 20:09:29
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