Valanciunas, Sabonis dominate in wins

By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net

The Los Angeles Lakers were riding on a record of seven straight victories before facing Memphis Grizzlies and Jonas Valanciunas. The Lithuanian center registered a strong double-double performance of 22 points and 20 rebounds to help Memphis win 105 – 88 against Lebron and co.

Valanciunas shot 10/15 from the field and had zero turnovers in the 31 minutes he stayed on the floor. Lebron James talked about him as well in his post-game comments.

“They just played a great game. Shot the ball extremely well from the perimeter,” James said, per AP. “Ja made four 3s. Dillon was really good all game and Valanciunas, I think he had like 50 rebounds the last two games. They just played a really good game and kept us at bay.”

Meanwhile, in Ohio, Valanciunas’ Lithuanian national team frontline mate was doing his thing as well. Domantas Sabonis flirted with the triple-double by posting 18 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists as the Indiana Pacers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 113 – 104.

Cedi Osman finished with eight points in 22 minutes for the Cavs.

Goran Dragic scored 19 points and dished out 10 assists to push the Miami Heat to a 116 – 113 win over the Brooklyn Nets. The Slovenian guard also hit a key basket that put his team up 114 – 110 with 13 to play.

“Tonight was a little bit shaky but we are happy with the win, especially with how we defended on the last possession,” Dragic said, per AP.

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Rodions Kurucs scored three and two points respectively off the bench for Brooklyn.

With three seconds left in the game between Orlando Magic and the San Antonio Spurs, Evan Fournier had the chance to score a potential game-winner when he drove to the basket for the layup. The French wing was off target and the Spurs won 114 – 113.

.”It’s a layup,” Fournier said, per AP. “It’s a damn layup. There’s no excuse.” He finished with 23 points, five assists and four steals while Nikola Vucevic had 16 points and nine rebounds.

For the Spurs, Marco Belinelli dropped two points.

The rest of Saturday’s (29/2) results and Euro-scorers:

Chicago Bulls – New York Knicks 125 – 115 (Tomas Satoransky 6 points/7 assists, Frank Ntilikina 4 points)

Atlanta Hawks – Portland Trail Blazers 129 – 117 (Mario Hezonja 8 points)

Boston Celtics – Houston Rockets 110 – 11 (Daniel Theis 8 points/15 rebounds)

Phoenix Suns – Golden State Warriors 90 – 115 (Elie Okobo 14 points/7 rebounds/5 assists, Dario Saric 11 points/9rebounds, Ricky Rubio 6 points/8 assists)

Standings (via NBA.com):