By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
KIROLBET Baskonia started the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season with an impressive 70-58 road win against Zalgiris Kaunas by riding the Shavon Shields wave. The American-Danish guard scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half and set the tone early.
The guests had a 37-30 halftime lead, and despite Zalgiris effort for a comeback, they kept their distance until the end. The home side made it a four-point game (59-55) at the start of the last quarter, but Baskonia reacted with a 7-0 run (66-55), and the game was over.
Shields scored the last bucket of this run.
Toko Shengelia added 13 points for the winning side, while the duo of Matt Janning and Luca Vildoza scored 10 points each.
Marius Grigonis and Lukas Lekavicius scored 10 points each for Zalgiris, and no other player from coach Sarunas Jasikevicius team couldn’t get in double digits.
Despite playing at home, the Lithuanian side made just 36% in two-pointers and 32% in triples. As Zalgiris Kaunas coach Sarunas Jasikevicius said: “If someone has told me Baskonia will win in Kaunas with 70 scored points… We wasted way too many opportunities. Sometimes basketball is a very simple game: you just have to make shots when you’re open.”
Seven blocks by Baskonia
Shield added on this issue: “We were getting stops. Us switching defense kind of messed them up in the second half, especially late. We were also doing well on the other end, which helped us extend the lead a little bit”.
Of course, the fact that Baskonia finished the game with seven blocks was more than crucial in this aspect, with Youssoupha Fall making five of them.
Waiting for Stauskas
“I think that both teams played very tough defense,” Baskonia coach Velimir Perasovic stated after the game. “Nobody could score easy because defenses were really good. If you look for bad things, you can say that we couldn’t score on offense, but when you play against an opponent like Zalgiris, which is tough and never gives up, it is very difficult to play. I think that we controlled the game, and when we put Fall in the game, he made some blocked shots, and they played differently after that. It is a very important victory for us, especially because we have a tough schedule. We will play two more road games now, and it is not easy, but this victory makes things easier for us.”
Baskonia was missing one of its marquee signings, Nik Stauskas, and as Perasovic said, he might be ready for the next Euroleague game, if “we will be lucky.” Still, Baskonia had a great night even without him.
Photo credit: EuroLeague