Dainius Salenga had to take the responsibilities of the coach, but all of his teammates were involved in the talks during time outs.
The hosts used an 8-4 second quarter run, which was topped by Aleksandar Capin’s basket, to increase their lead to double-digits at 28-18. Zalgiris’ lead kept on growing and reached 15 points in the last minutes of the first half.
Lietuvos Rytas found inner strength to cut the deficit to eight points (40-48), but this was pretty much all they could manage as the home team answered with a 7-0 run and brought the gap to 15 points again at 55-40.
The visitors from the capital couldn’t get closer than eight points again and the energetic Zalgiris held a 13-point lead as the final buzzer sounded.
Zalgiris played perfect defense denying one of Lietuvos Rytas’ leaders Martynas Gecevicius any space on offense. The guard finished the game with only five points and making only 1-of-8 shots from the field after averaging 21,3 points in the first three games.
Marcus Brown led Zalgiris both emotionally and with his game scoring 17 points, Dainius Salenga, who found a new role in team, finished the game with 13 as Martynas Pocius and Travis Watson both added 10, with the latter adding 11 rebounds. Tadas Klimavicius, Mario Delas and Aleksandar Capin all contributed with 9 points each.
Igor Milosevic had a team-high 14 points for Lietuvos Rytas,
but didn’t control the game at all often playing too selfish and hot-headed. Arturas Jomantas, Aron Baynes and Steponas Babrauskas all collected 10 points
for the visitors.
Rimas Kurtinaitis (head coach of Lietuvos Rytas): “As I mentioned a couple of days ago, these events with Zalgiris might have an unpredictable effect on the game. I have to commend Zalgiris players for their game. They didn’t play fast, but they made the right decisions. I think that we lacked the right decision-making today.
We are unpredictable – sometimes we play well, but this isn’t a team I’d like to see. We have some problems with the foreigners. I don’t know when they want to play and when they don’t. Some of them look as if they just want to go home. That’s why I allowed more court-time for Jonas Valanciunas. But it’s hard for him as he’s only 18-years-old. However, he was one of the best in our team. As cruel as it might seem, when Valanciunas is the best, it’s hard for us to defeat Zalgiris with so many experienced players.
Just like I said before the finals, there will probably be seven games. We have to win at home if we are to play in Euroleague.”
Dainius Salenga (captain of Zalgiris): “The day before the game I told the media that we are going to fight for the title. You could see this on the court today. Tying the series was a big step. It’s glad that the players gave their best. It’s nice to win. It was a team effort both on the offensive and the defensive ends.
It’s hard to make conclusions after only one game. There’s a reason for coaches. If there was no, why have them? The coaches do their job and the players do theirs. We, the older players, have more experience and tried to direct the team towards the right way of playing. A coach is needed in every team, but in today’s situation we just didn’t have any other options. We have been together for the whole season and a new coach wouldn’t be able to introduce anything new with the time that would have. The mindset and effort from each and every player on the court compensated the lack of a coach.
I don’t know if there’ll be a coach for these series. Sarunas Sakalauskas helped us out a lot in the dressing room and during the practices, his knowledge helped a lot.
When a team loses someone, it makes the players more focused on the task on hand. I have experienced it on myself. When some players are out, the rest have to play with twice the energy they normally do. A team like this is dangerous. The other team might relax and this can have a negative effect.”
