By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv needed a road win and Zalgiris Kaunas proved to be the perfect victim, as the Israelis cruised in the end to a 94-78 triumph for their 10th win of the season.
James Nunnally with 32 points was the top scorer of the winning side and registered a new EuroLeague career-high, Scottie Wilbekin added 20 and Ante Zizic had 13 points for the winning side.
“The shots just kept going in”, admitted Wilbekin on a stellar offensive night.
After a tied first half (47-47), Maccabi got a 64-55 lead by shooting 67% in threes. Still, Zalgiris managed to trail by four (64-60) entering the last period.
“We just got more disciplined in the second half, more focused in defense and my teammates were looking for me, finding me, setting good screens, making good passes and I just knocked down the shots”, said Nunally.
Maccabi kept its distance, led by 13 (86-73) after a dunk and a three by Derrick Williams with less than three minutes left and the game was over.
The guests finished the night with 14/20 threes (70%), they jumped even to a 16-point advantage and got the win despite not having due to COVID coach Giannis Sfairopoulos on the sidelines with assistant Avi Even acting as the head coach.
“We shared the ball in a beautiful way and we scored some”, said Even after the final buzzer. “This team has worked a lot with coach Giannis, I came here just to help these guys, to enjoy and win the game”.
Marek Blazevic stole the show with 20 points for Zalgiris, Lukas Lekavicius had 16 and Tyler Cavanaugh also scored 16. The hosts missed two key members in Mantas Kalnietis and Josh Nebo but they remain dead last in the standings with a 3-16 record.