How EuroLeague 'losers' started beating giants? / News - Basketnews.com

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It was like back in the good old days. Sarunas Jasikevicius returned to Zalgirio arena sidelines, and Zalgiris Kaunas won again in an incredible atmosphere.

Player of the Game EFF 33 Edgaras Ulanovas Points 16 Accuracy 3-6 Rebounds 9 Assists 0

The main difference was that Zalgiris was one of the two lowest-seeded EuroLeague teams, and Saras was the head coach of the first-seeded FC Barcelona.

Lithuanian champions stunned the EuroLeague powerhouse 91-84 to reach the 7th victory in 23 games (with games against Russian teams excluded).

"Losers. It's not exciting to be a loser. But that's our reality now," Edgaras Ulanovas said on February 4, after another disappointing loss against UNICS Kazan (67-76).

Zalgiris was on an 8-game losing streak and were dead last in the EuroLeague standings with three wins in 21 games.

5000 Zalgiris fans barely came to support their team and had many doubts over green and whites chances to win the Lithuanian Cup.

Since then, Zalgiris won more EuroLeague games in the last four weeks (4) than in the first four months of the season (3), including a confident triumph in the Cup tournament.

It all started with the win in Monaco (83-82), the first road victory since January 2021.

Later, Zalgiris kept Real Madrid to the lowest-scoring performance in the club's history, 68-47. And now it's another EuroLeague giant, Barcelona.

"Loser is the one who doesn't change anything and continues to be a loser. But now, our mindset is positive. That's how it should be even if you're the last seeded," Ulanovas, who had a career-high 33 PIR, said after the victory.

"I'm very happy for my teammates who are improving. We're getting better. Maybe that process lasted too long, but if we compare ourselves to who we were a couple of months ago, now we play much better," Ulanovas assured. "Yes, we're still at the bottom of the standings, but it's great that we're fighting and winning."

Zalgiris Kaunas / Schedule

Zalgiris Kaunas FC Barcelona91-84 Zalgiris Kaunas Olympiakos PiraeusTue18:00 Zalgiris Kaunas Anadolu Efes IstanbulThu18:00

He had 16 points, 9 rebounds, 6 steals, and 9 fouls drawn, which extended a fantastic stretch for the Lithuanian forward. In the last five games that ended with four Zalgiris victories, Ulanovas averaged 19.2 PIR.

A 30-year-old forward showed all-around class, stopping Nikola Mirotic on the defensive end and then beating him with step-back jumpers on the other.

"There's no rollercoaster with Edgaras. Until January, he's like a calm wind, but later, he rises as an Everest. There are no ups and downs with him. Zalgiris should start considering paying him half of the salary because he starts playing only from January", Jasikevicius joked about his former player.

"When he fires up, he's really on fire. You saw him in the game against Panathinaikos and how confident he was scoring in many different ways," Jasikevicius added. "He always starts playing before the Cup tournament. He just collects all the MVP awards of the Lithuanian tournaments and then goes to rest until January."

But it wasn't only Ulanovas, not at all.

Joffrey Lauvergne was jumping and screaming with joy erasing Zalgiris' 9-point deficit at the beginning of the fourth quarter with crucial baskets, including a 2+1 basket.

His presence inside the paint boosted Lithuanians in the last four wins, where the Frenchman averaged 14.5 points, six rebounds, and 18.8 PIR.

The other center Josh Nebo completely outrebounded Brandon Davies. The EuroLeague rookie grabbed at least three offensive rebounds over Davies' head in the fourth quarter and pushed Zalgiris forward with his second-chance points.

Nebo played only 13 minutes and scored 6 of his 8 total points during that critical 4th quarter stretch when Zalgiris built a decisive lead.

"Zalgiris was very motivated tonight," Jasikevicius said. "When Nebo dunked on us twice, that hurt me personally. I saw one very hungry player on one side, but I couldn't find anybody like that in my team. I missed the leadership, although we're talking about it in Barcelona for the last few days."

Once Nebo dunked so hard that Davies lost his headband. After a third consecutive offensive rebound over Davies, Jasikevicius couldn't do anything but put his center on the bench.

Barcelona just couldn't match Zalgiris energy that fired up Kaunas crowd.

In the most challenging moments of the season, Zalgiris managed to keep the locker room healthy.

They avoided some drastic decisions already considered in Zalgiris' front office.

Veterans with a strong basketball IQ, such as Paulius Jankunas, Arturas Milaknis, Mantas Kalnietis, and others, helped Jure Zdovc when he was under a lot of pressure on and off the court.

New players stepped up. For example, Tyler Cavanaugh improved his scoring average to 12.1 points per game and, most importantly, perfectly took over Zalgiris' identity.

And as soon as all players came back into the rotation, Zalgiris was ready to defend their pride.

Big teams came to Kaunas expecting an easy road trip.

As Augustas Suliauskas emphasized in his breakdown, that impacted the quality of Barcelona's execution.

Zalgiris punished without mercy.

The walls between Zalgirio arena's press conference room and Zalgiris locker room are really thin. You should have heard how Zalgiris players were celebrating this victory. As if they made a significant step establishing their place in the playoffs.

"These victories gave us a lot of great emotions," Lukas Lekavicius, the top scorer of the game with 22 points (8th in the fourth quarter), told after the game. "We feel confident, and we're all happy. We'll try to continue this great stretch through the great job we were doing recently."

Green and whites couldn't makeLithuania's Independence Restoration Day anybetter. Lithuanian songs, Ukrainian flags, and the fight Zalgiris showed on the court probably created the best atmosphere in Kaunas since Saras left in 2020.

"They play with double energy. They're a very nice team that will fight to be as high as possible in the standings. They're in excellent shape right now," former Zalgiris player Rokas Jokubaitis said.

Jokubaitis had 11 points in his first Zalgirio arena return. Young 21-year-old Barcelona guard received a standing ovation from Zalgiris fans.

Even his mom had a hard time choosing sides that night. But it's difficult not to cheer for Zalgiris at the moment, mainly when such a fantastic crowd supports them, and Zalgiris produce a No. 2 offensive rating in the EuroLeague since Round 23 (they were 18th through 22 rounds).

Zalgiris fans will have more opportunities to enjoy their team playing home. Zalgiris will host Olympiacos Piraeus, Anadolu Efes Istanbul, and ASVEL Villeurbanne from March 15 to 23.

All these clubs defeated Zalgiris by double digits in the first part of the season. But they can be sure that now they're facing a completely different team.

"I like the fact that they play more relaxed after winning the cup," Jasikevicius noticed. "I can imagine that there was a lot of pressure, they went through a coaching change, so they really needed that cup. Now they act way differently. They play calmer, and they understand their coach better."

"Now we're a different team," Jure Zdovc said in the press conference. "You remember how many games we played with all these problems. Covid, injuries, fake covid-positive... Now I have all weapons."

"I told my boss that now I really like and trust my team. I really enjoy coaching this team right now," coach Zdovc concluded.

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