Lietuvos Rytas defended the BBL title and lifted the Trophy again
Zalgiris - Lietuvos Rytas 77 : 81 ( 7-16, 17-25, 26-23, 27-17 )
Lietuvos Rytas defended their title from the last year beating Zalgiris
again in the Final. After a second place in ULEB Cup, Rytas desired only
the first place in BBL. They fantastically managed to do this with 81:77
win.
Kareem Rush (198-F-80, agency:
Beo Basket, college:
Missouri) was unstoppable with 22 points for the winners.
Paulius Jankunas (204-F-84, agency:
Interperformances) nailed 15 points and made 7 rebounds, while
Loren Woods (215-C-78, college:
Arizona) posted 14.
Marko Popovic (185-G-82) netted 19 points in the losing effort.
With the defensive game in the opening quarter both teams were preparing
for the thriller. Such a style of game was more favorable for Lietuvos.
They took a 16:7 lead after the first quarter. Even though everything
went all right for them, Lietuvos Rytas switched to zone defense after
the first 10 minutes. Nielsen scored some important baskets to give
Rytas 23:14 lead. The nightmare for Zalgiris ended in the end of the
first half. Rytas gradually increased their lead to a 17-point gap
before the big break with 40:23.
The end of the Final? Probably not, when we have such team as Zalgiris.
The first spurt the team showed only in the end of the third quarter.
Marko Popovic hit three pointers to cut at 45:62.
Tomas Delininkaitis (192-G-82) finished in traffic and then Collins
made 61:71. Some more threes helped Zalgiris to reduce to 4 points,
however that was all they could do. Lietuvos Rytas stayed calm and
deserved the win this year as well. The team got 30000 Euro and a trophy
for the first place. Zalgiris:
Marko Popovic 19,
Paulius Jankunas 15+7 rebs,
Loren Woods 14+10 rebs Lietuvos Rytas:
Kareem Rush 22,
Tomas Delininkaitis 11,
Roberts Stelmahers (192-G-74) 10
SEB-Baltic Basketball League All-Stars Game 2007
February, 3 in Kaunas Baltic Stars - Foreign Stars 98-100
Baltic: Muursepp 16+10reb, Jomantas 15, E.Zukauskas 15, S.Valters 14,
Kullamae 11, Kalnietis 8, Klimavicius 8, Anisimov 6, Gaidamavicius 2,
Grafs 2, Maciulis 1, Lukminas.
Foreign: Johnson 16, Penney 13, Beard 12+16reb, Batista 10, Motolla 10,
Machado 9, Millage 8, Dorsey 8, Shannon 7, Reed 5, Love 2, Bramlett.
Game MVP: Tanoka Beard (Zalgiris)
3 point contest winner: Martynas Gecevicius (Lietuvos Rytas)
"Slam dunk" contest winner: Mantas Kalnietis (Zalgiris)
A fabulous show
ended up in Kaunas. The name of the show was All Star Game. Two teams
were divided into Baltic stars and Foreign Stars. The latter were a bit
luckier winning 100:98. The MVP of the game was named
Tanoka Beard (205-F-71, college:
Boise St.). He poured in 12 points and made 16 rebounds. Even though
some of the players scored more than him, he was the most efficient.
In the opening quarter Foreign Stars made a 7:0 run. They stayed with
the same difference after the first 24:17. Baltic Stars started the
second better and almost reached the foreigners in the end of it. The
teams went in the lockers with 53:51. Already in the third quarter
Baltic stars tied them at 58:58, however again were behind before the
last quarter. In the end of the game Foreign Stars led 6 points. Baltic
Stars could tie them and give the spectators an overtime continuation,
however could not post in the last points.
Martynas Gecevicius (193-G-88) won the three-point shootout scoring
18 points in the final.
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