By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Zach LeDay put on an MVP caliber performance as he led Zalgiris to an 86-73 home win over Real Madrid in Round 3 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
LeDay nailed 26 points – on 10-14 shooting – including 16 in the fourth quarter while also grabbing nine boards for a total of 35 PIR. Nigel Hayes added 15 in addition to Marius Grigonis’ 13 points.
With this win, Zalgiris stopped a six-game losing streak against Real Madrid in Kaunas and logged their first win in EuroLeague this season (1-2). The Spaniards now hold a 2-1 record.
For Real Madrid, Anthony Randolph was the only double-digit scorer with 15 points while Sergio Llull and Facundo Campazzo helped with nine each.
The importance of details
Sarunas Jasikevicius was very satisfied with his squad after the game and stressed the importance of details: “I think that, for the date that we are in, in the middle of October, it was pretty close to be amazing because now, not many teams know the details, not many teams understand the importance of the details. We did well today and more importantly, we fought. We gave ourselves a chance and a couple of things went our way in the fourth quarter. In the EuroLeague, one win is just one win and I don’t think one win surprises anybody. It is the consistency that we have to create.”
LeDay seems to have incorporated the coach’s way of thinking as well: “We just had to fight, we just had to dig down. We had lost some close games. We are a new team, we are young, but Coach told us to just pay attention to details, come out and fight, and this is what we just did tonight. That’s why we got the W. We were playing unselfish and getting stops. Everybody did what they could to help the team win. That is what Zalgiris basketball is about: playing hard and fighting. It took us two games to learn that and now we are here, so we have to keep on working, keep paying attention to details. [This first win] is great and I want more. I am ready to just move on. We are going to celebrate, but we just move on and keep going because it is a long season.”
Zalgiris started strong led by Hayes who banked 12 out of his team’s first 14 points but Real Madrid stayed close (18-15). The Lithuanians kept a slight advantage through the second quarter as well and went to the halftime rest with a 38-34 lead.
After the break, Randolph and Fabien Caseur partnered up for 13 points in the third quarter and pushed Real to a 60-57 advantage in front of the final ten minutes. The game went down to the wire but LeDay stepped up for Zalgiris throughout the whole fourth quarter and gave them the win.