By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Zalgiris Kaunas earned the first spot in this season’s Belgrade Final Four after taking down Olympiacos 101-91 in Game 4 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs, putting an end to their 19-year drought in European competitions.
This will be the Lithuanians’ second time in the Final Four since 1999, where they defeated Olympiacos in the semifinal and eventually reached the EuroLeague title, as well as their first time ever in the modern EuroLeague era.
Olympiacos will remain out of the Final Four for the first time since the 2014-15 season when the Reds were eliminated by Real Madrid in the playoffs.
Paced by a superb performance by Edgaras Ulanovas, Sarunas Jasikevicius’ team reached glory, after a long season full of surprises. The 26-year-old forward finished with a nearly double-double of 20 points and nine rebounds.
Kevin Pangos added with 21 points for the winning side, while Vasilije Micic dropped three from the three-point line and finished with nine points.
Zalgiris used total dominance in the second and third period and despite injury-plagued Olympiacos‘ short comeback in the final one, the deficit could not be covered in the course of the final quarter.