By: Freaknick/@Euro_Adventures
OK I joined this one a little bit late, but I couldn’t resist throwing in my two cents on this Lithuanian thriller. Euroleague Adventures have been all over this one from the start, since our video preview of the series to our Vladimir Romanov conspiracy theory and finally to our encouraging message to fed-up Lithuanin hoopheads. Second half, let’s get it:
-Dainius Salenga opens up the half with a drive and he’s fouled by—you’ll never guess it—Aron Baynes. Somehow he never can quite grasp the fact that tackling is not allowed. I would say he should petition the league for a rule change, but I think they’ve got their hands full with a few, um, other problems right now.
-A big bucket by Mario Delas and it’s a ten point game. 61-51 withabout 4:00 left in the third. I really thought Mario was going to be a force for them late in the season after some impressive Euroleague minutes. He needs to hit the weights and get a midrange game working. He’s a three-or-drive guy at the moment when he touches it 20 feet away (which by the way, it shouldn’t come to that).
-A Martynas Gecevicius triple from the corner makes it a 13-point game. Wait, is that what happens when you leave him open? Oh damn, didn’t realize that. Always thought he was more of an above-the-rim kind of guy…
-The imaginary coach should definitely check Pocius back in. One of the two or three guys who can guard Gecevicius, plus he’s leading the team with 13. Seems like a no-brainer, perfect considering the Zalgiris organization seemingly has no brain.
-Most coaches preach the 2-for-1 shot clock mentality at quarter’s end, where you try to get one up with enough time—27 or 28 seconds— to ensure a second possession before the buzzer sounds. Aleksander Capin has mastered the 1-for-you mentality, where he rushes one up right as the gameclock sinks beneath 24 seconds so that the other guys have a full shotclock to run through their offense. What a nice guy. I guess he hit it this time though, so maybe I should just shut the hell up.
FOURTH QUARTER
-Lietuvos Rytas with 73, Zalgiris with 61. Let’s see what we got here.
-Pocius with a weird slidey thing and he loses it on the drive. Where’s the wipe-up-the-floor-with-the-towel kid when you need him?
-I am without the benefit of stats right now, but I’d like to venture this guess: Zalgiris has taken more free throws as a team, but Rytas has still made more. The only thing that’s really glaring right now to me.
-So of course when a Rytas dude falls, out comes the towel kid! Corruption!
-Travis Watson is one of the laziest I’ve seen in terms of hedging on screens, so why now does he feel the need to chase Baynes out to the threepoint line? Some things, man. Some things just make no kinda sense.
-Maybe as like a team unity thing, all the Zalgiris guys should shave their heads. It’s been working for Kalnietis the last few games. He looks much more aerodynamic out there. On second though, Salenga would look like a Halloween costume if he shaved his head.
-Offensively, I don’t know if I’ve seen Zalgiris attack ths much in a while. Again, free throws are killing them. Coach should definitely make them shoot extras at the end of the next practice.
-That’s right, Travis. Pick up that fifth foul 22 feet away from the bucket. That’s what you’re in there to do. Use your head, big fella. They need you in there.
-For Capin’s lack of offensive anythingness, he sure can lock a guy down on the perimeter. Whoever was supposed to be on Milosevic that time, apparently is not. He had room to dribble twice, read a movie review, eat a Fruit Roll-Up and stroke it. He chose to save those first three for later. Oh well, 86-70 Rytas.
-Three by Capin (I think, the video feed is a bit fuzzy) and it’s 86-73 with 1:40 left.
-Crappy feeds such as this really make me appreciate players who accessorize. Watson’s headband, Pocius’ black arm sleeve, and I’ve decided to count Kenan Bajramovic’s bald head as an accessory as well, because it’s just more convenient that way.
-And 89-75 is your final. Time to open up the stat sheet and see what we’ve learned:
Lietuvos Rytas: Bajramovic (21 pts, 9 rebounds, 3 assists), Martynas Gecevicius (18 pts), Steponas Babrauskas (16 pts, 6 rebounds), Igor Milosevic (8 pts, 7 assists)
Zalgiris: Pocius (21 pts, 4 rebounds), Mantas Kalnietis (12 pts, 4 rebounds, 5 assists), Dainius Salenga (12 pts, 4 rebounds)
Separation Stats: I was right about the whole “I bet Zalgiris has taken more free throws than Rytas” thing, but wrong about Rytas still hitting more. I was close though, and I’ll take that: Zalgiris was 22/35 (63%) while Rytas was 19/25 (76%). It ain’t easy to make it to the line at a nearly once-per-minute pace on the road, so next time they’ll need to convert.
Without Mirza Begic, Zalgiris lost the battle of the boards by 4, 30 to 26 but it shouldn’t have mattered as they forced three more tunrovers (15 compared with 12).
The difference came beyond the arc, and mainly with timely 3′s. Zalgiris shot a very decent 41% with 9/22, but Rytas still blew them away by hitting 8/13, good for 62%. All in all, not a huge “Let’s dive into the stats” game. It just came down to Rytas making the plays—the shots, the extra pass, the offensive rebound—when they needed to.
I hate myself right now for using that cliché. See you for Game Six.
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great blog dude, really hope the team with no coach wins…
Apparently evil genius Romanov was sitting in the bench. Thankfully he didn’t try to coach or anything (I wouldn’t have been surprised), he just sat there being annoying. I hope he doesn’t do it again next game, and Zalgiris players can get it together, because today everything went wrong, absolutely everything.
@Arwyta – I’m starting to think Romanov is getting a payday if Rytas takes this.
@A. Lee O. – I appreciate it. I was “really hope”ing with you.
http://www.lithuaniabasketball.com/image-13248-bg.jpg
Coach Brown seems pissed… no wonder why…
Payday for Romanov? I think Ballineurope had a quite interesting thought… winning the biggest newspaper as a friend might come in handy next time he wants to run for president
Most interesting from my perspektive as an ALBA Berlin supporter is Kenan Bajramovic’ performance. A guy that totally lacked any effort in Berlin suddenly is back to the top after joining Rytas. Oh, how we loved the deal when he was signed and how relieved we were when he left. Some players just show their abilities playing for certain clubs.
@Gruebler- Yeah it certainly a thought which all of the sudden sounds realistic. Don’t know if he’s helping himself in the eyes of the people. And yeah, Bajramovic gives them something they desperately need: somebody strong on the dribble who can get into the D. He looks great when he’s on.
Freaknick, I told you about the possible conspiracy when you were in Vilnius, didn’t I? It might have been wrong of us to not take Romanov seriously.
But, I’m kind of not sure what’s in it for Romanov, he’s being hammered by every media outlet with Lietuvos Rytas in the forefront. Well except from the one he kinda owns… As you might already know, Romanov owns a bank (Ukio bankas), but what you might not know is that he majority of Lietuvos Rytas’ shares (the basketball club, TV station, daily) belong to a rival bank (Snoro bankas).
If Rytas get to Euroleague, it’s great for them – sponsors will automatically be there (they seem to get more prestigious and more well-known brands) as opposed to Zalgiris, who get some help from the Kaunas municipality (4 MLN LTL), but seem to rely on a lot of smaller sponsors. However, Zalgiris’ budget has always been bigger. I don’t know why Romanov would want to scare away the sponsors and I would guess that if there was a deal it might turn out to be not as profitable as he had hoped with all those possible sponsors shying away.
I am confused. The refereeing is all-right and the only ugly thing I’ve seen is the firing of Maskoliunas… and the other coaches… There surely was a better way to fix things up – if they are fixed, that is.
About Bajramovic, he has brought what Rytas desperately needed – someone who can create his own shot when given the ball. Gecevicius, still, relies too much on screens and doesn’t have any moves up his sleave when it comes to beating you one on one… Well he does, actually, he can make those shots with a hand in his face, but still, you get the point. Who else? I can’t really think of much – maybe Arturas Jomantas, he has been hitting the mid-range shots unexpectedly well this series. His lethally slow spin is hilarious, but still enough to get the man beat. For this guy, it’s mostly effort not skills. So yeah, Bajramovic was a great steal for Rytas with his price WAYYY down from what it was.
I really should have read this before posting, but ehhhhh, who the hell cares..?
And he can’t run in the presidential election as neither he himself, nor his parents were born in Lithuania. It was more of a PR stunt.
BTW, I remember another thing. It’s a public secret, that Romanov kinda rigged a dancing show on TV… All hail Buratino! That’s where the nickname comes from.
Freaknick, will you be live blogging game seven on Monday night? Please advise and i’ll be there — the teams i’m most interrupting my life to watch these days are Zalgiris and the Lakers!
Cheers,
Os.
You know it. I need to see the final chapter of this coaching duel. Please join us.