Chuck Eidson was the biggest headache for Zalgiris when he used to play for Lietuvos Rytas in Lithuania. The American moved to Barcelona, but still he seems to be a Chinese puzzle for Zalgiris.
Eidson scored 10 of his 15 points in the last quarter as Barcelona beat Zalgiris in Kaunas, 67-58.
Sonny Weems and Marko Popovic, two leading scorers for Zalgiris, did not play because of injuries and the Lithuanian side finished the game with record-low points in Euroleague this season.
Despite the poor offence, the home team managed to hang around in the game until Eidson stepped in. Barcelona guard, who played in Lithuania between 2007 and 2009, hit two three-pointers and scored 10 points in the first five minutes of the last quarter.
Zalgiris was still within 52-57 after Eidson’s solo, but made 5 turnovers in the last minutes of the game and let Barcelona to leave Kaunas with expected win.
Juan Carlos Navarro had a game-high 18 points and 5 assists for the visitors who are now 4-0 in Top 16 stage. Erazem Lorbek finished the game with 16 points.
Delininkaitis scored season-high 17 points for Zalgiris who is still looking for a win in the second round. Milovan Rakovic, who was questionable before the game because of illness, had 9 points, but made just 1 out of 4 free-throws. Zalgiris made only two free-throws out of 7 in the game.
Just hours before the tip-off controversy news emerged that Weems, who is averaging team-high 16 points a game this season, will not play because of shoulder injury. Two days before the game, Weems openly talked about his will to come back to NBA this season if Zalgiris will not produce to play-offs. However, Zalgiris owner Vladimir Romanov told the media the next day that he has no intentions of letting Weems go earlier than the season ends.
Just after the game, Weems talked to media and denied simulating the injury. "I am sticking to the plan to stay in Kaunas until the end of the season," Weems said Thursday night.
Zalgiris will play Maccabi in Tel Aviv next week as Lithuanian side will be looking for the first Top 16 away win since March 2004.
