Green is the color, Zalgiris is the name – the Lithuanian League (LKL) trophy is staying in Kaunas, as Zalgiris finished off one of the most dominant seasons domestically in years with a 3-0 sweep of Lietuvos Rytas in the LKL Finals.
After taking convincing wins in games one and
two, Zalgiris came out on top in game three as well, defeating the rivals from
Vilnius 90-84 (25-20, 22-24, 22-19,
21-21) in the closest game of the series in Kaunas on Sunday.
On the way to the LKL crown, Zalgiris managed
to win all six encounters with Lietuvos Rytas this season – three times in the
LKL Finals, twice in the LKL regular season and once more in the BBL Final. It
was the first time in 13 years that one team triumphed in every single match.
In the final game of the series, Marko Popovic,
who has been stellar throughout the Finals, led the Greens with 20 points and six
assists, Tomas Delininkaitis finished the game with 19, while Robertas Javtokas
chipped in with 14.
For Lietuvos Rytas, Renaldas Seibutis had 24
points and 8 rebounds, Stepas Babrauskas collected 14, as Jonas Valanciunas and
Mindaugas Katelynas scored 12 and 11 points respectively.
