By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
Neptunas Klaipeda is one step away from the quarter-finals after beating SIG Strasbourg 73-68 at home in the first game in the Round of 16.
They were leading by 14 points in the first half but ultimately won the game by six points. And the key guy for Neptunas’ win was the veteran Tomas Delininkaitis with his season-high 19 points.
Delininkaitis established his career while playing for Lietuvos Rytas from 2002 until to 2007. Along with Robertas Javtokas and Simas Jasaitis, he led Lietuvos to the EuroCup trophy back in 2005.
He was also a member of the Zalgiris Kaunas, winning two LKL championship titles while being the MVP of the finals in 2012.
Despite playing for the biggest Lithuanian’s team Delininaktis started his professional career in Neptunas Klaipeda. And there are chances that he will end his career in Klaipeda as he is turning 36 in June.
Neptunas had some strong performance during the Basketball Champions League season. The experienced point guard was always ready to lead his team when it needed.
He is averaging 18,8 minutes per game in the Basketball Champions League and he is also scoring almost 10 points per game (9,9 to be precise). He is also adding 1,8 assist and 1,4 rebounds per game. In his season-high 19 points game against Strasbourg, he was 5/9 from the field. That shooting percentage is more than solid, but all his shots were made from the three-point line. He added 4 points from the free-throws to complete his 19 points game.
Only threes!
Now comes the interesting part. Believe it or not, Delininaktis made only six two-pointers in the whole season. He scored 119 points and only 12 of these 119 points came from the two-point territory.
Simply, the Lithuanian vet is feeling much more comfortable from behind the arc. He is shooting 5,8 threes per game while making 2,5 of them. It is obvious that Delininaktis is the product of the Lithuanian old school in which the three-pointer was the pinnacle long before the Golden State Warriors era. A school that led Lithuania to the gold medal in the Eurobasket 2003.
Delininkatis won the bronze medal with Lithuania in 2010 at World Cup in Turkey. He also won the silver medal on the Eurobasket in Slovenia in 2013.
To make to the quarter-finals Neptnuas needs to protect its six points lead. Delininkatis could play a big part in that game with his experience and of course with his proven three-point shooting.