Armani Milano – Zalgiris Kaunas 65-58: The Italians did the housework

Armani took another step towards a place in the top four of the EuroLeague regular season, which offers home field advantage in the playoffs, which saw Zalgiris beat Zalgiris 65-58 at the Mediolanum Forum. Ettore Messina’s team rose to 14-6 while Yuri Zdovch’s fell to 3-16, two wins away from 17th Panathinaikos.

The Italians didn’t impress, but they did their job without worries, without giving rights to the Lithuanians, with good creation and few mistakes. For his part, Zalgiris didn’t have the talent and depth to assert more in Milan, with Lukas Lekavicius and Marek Blazevic being the only ones who put in a good effort.

The race

Milan didn’t start well, losing 7-0 early on but responding with a mini-burst to take the lead within two and a half minutes of the 20-20 (12-10). They had 2/9 threes against Zalgiris, who scored four threes and had just one error. The Italians’ superiority was there in the first half (39:30), the two errors helping them keep the Lithuanians at bay as Zdovch didn’t have the same depth on his bench to face Messina’s team.

Armani showed his class early in the second half, keeping the difference and going to +14 (52-38 in 28′), with the result that Zalgiris realized early on that there wasn’t much left to achieve. And indeed, the rest of the game had nothing more to offer, with the Italians coming to the positive result with characteristic ease.

THE REFEREES: Rizik, Hordov, Dragojewic

THE TEN MINUTES: 20-20, 39-30, 54-45, 65-58

ARMANI MILAN (Messina): Kell, Meli 6 (1), Rodriguez 10 (3/3 two points, 0/3 three points, 4/5 shots, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 errors), Tarzuski 4, Ritchie, Hall 12 ( 5/9 two points, 0/3 three points, 2/3 shots, 3 rebounds, 4 assists), Delaney 5 (0/5 two points, 1/2 three points, 2/2 shots, 2 assists, 4 errors) , Daniels 12 (4) , Hines 6 (3/3 two points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), Bentley 7 (1), Datome 3 (1)

ZALGIRIS KAOUNAS (Zdovts): Webster 7 (1), Blazevic 13 (4/6 two points, 5/7 shots), Lekavitsius 13 (3), Miniotas 5 (1), Lukosiounas, Krivas, Milaknis 8 (2), Cavanaugh 10 ( 2/7 threes, 7 rebounds), Gifai, Ulanovas 2 (1/6 shots)

Armani Milano team statistics: 13/29 two points, 8/24 three points, 15/18 shots, 32 rebounds (25 defensive – 7 offensive), 16 assists, 7 steals, 1 block, 10 errors

Zalgiris Kaunas team statistics: 11/27 two points, 9/25 three points, 9/11 shots, 34 rebounds (27 defensive – 7 offensive), 16 assists, 7 steals, 1 block, 14 errors

The next games of the two teams: In the 24th game, Armani plays with the Red Star in Belgrade (1/2 at 20:00), while Zalgiris Maccabi hosts Tel Aviv in Kaunas (1/2 at 20:00).