It will be only the second time in LKL history when the finals will be decided in game seven. Lietuvos Rytas triumphed the last time round, beating Zalgiris 4-3 in 2002.
The game started badly for Lietuvos Rytas as they scored only one point in the first four minutes of the game and were trailing 1-6 when Kenan Bajramovic went down injured and was guided by the team’s medical staff to the locker-room.
Zalgiris cruised through the rest of the quarter and were up 21-14 after the first period as Martynas Gecevicius’ buzzer-beating three-pointer was not counted after the referees reviewed the video replay.
However, the visitors needed only a couple minutes to get claw their way back in to the game, tying the score at 21-21 with a 7-0 run at the start of the second. The lead changed hands nine times before Lietuvos Rytas finished the half ahead by a single point with the score at 40-39.
With three minutes into the decisive quarter, the teams were knotted up at 63-63, but Zalgiris clogged up their defense and didn’t allow any points in the last seven minutes of the game, scoring 14 themselves.
Dainius Salenga led Zalgiris with 15 points, Mantas Kalnietis had 12 as Mario Delas and Travis Watson both added 10.
Kenan Bajramovic paced Lietuvos Rytas with 12, Martynas Gecevicius scored 11 and Igor Milosevic collected 9 points, but had another disastrous ball-handling night with 5 turnovers. Milko Bjelica and Aron Baynes finished the game with 8 and 7 respectively.
Rimas Kurtinaitis (head coach of Lietuvos Rytas): "I would like to congratulate Zalgiris with the victory, which they fought hard for. We couldn’t cope with the pressure in the arena. We played a terrible stretch at the end, which we lost 0-14. With all the foul trouble I had to play Jonas Valanciunas, who is still 18-years-old. It was good lesson for the future, but it’s hard to win with players so young. Jomantas twisted his ankle pretty badly.
It was literally hot in here
tonight, you probably all felt this. When I was working in the Physical
Education and Sports Department we focused on heating of the place as we had
problems keeping the temperatures up in winter, but we didn’t think about the ventilation
too much. This is a big problem, because players are fatiguing faster. However,
all of the conditions are equal to everyone."
