The 37-year-old Marco Belinelli erupted for a career-high 27 points as Virtus Bologna beat Saski Baskonia 81-91 in Round 14 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.

Marco Belinelli turned back the clock to lead Virtus Bologna past Saski Baskonia

Marco Belinelli fired on all cylinders at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz to [lead Virtus Segafredo Bologna to a crucial 81-91 victory](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/news/euroleague-live-blog-saski-baskonia-vs-virtus-bologna/) in Round 14 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season on Thursday night.

The Virtus forward hit the ground running and scored half of his team’s 24 points in the first quarter to reach the 1,000-point milestone in the EuroLeague. Belinelli did net just 4 points in the next two quarters, but he stepped up when it mattered most to practically win the game for the guests.

Marco Belinelli erupted for a career-high 27 points as Virtus Segafredo Bologna beat Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 81-91 in Round 14 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

Marco Belinelli's top scoring plays vs. Baskonia

### A career night for Belinelli

The 37-year-old star turned back the clock in the last quarter, bagging 11 points to allow Virtus to seal the victory in crunch time. Belinelli ended the game with a career-high 27 points, having gone 6-for-9 from inside the arc, 4-for-8 from downtown and a perfect 3-for-3 from the free-throw line.

“I feel good,” Belinelli said in the post-game flash interview. “I love to play for this team. I love to play for this coach \[Luca Banchi\], for this organization. So, every time I go to the court, I try to play my game, try to be aggressive. It’s not just myself but all the team.”

### Belinelli stepped up in crunch time

The Virtus star was the man who practically put the game to bed with his back-to-back triples late in the game, when the guests went on a 0-10 run to clinch the win. Belinelli punished the hosts by hitting an open three with 1:23 left on the clock to make it 76-85, before drilling another one with 0:14 remaining (81-88) to finish the game off.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Beli said “𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓” 🔚🔥 pt.2<a href="https://twitter.com/marcobelinelli?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@marcobelinelli</a> 🤝🏼 <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroLeague?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EuroLeague</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AmarsiAncora?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AmarsiAncora</a> <a href="https://t.co/skEoH97oIJ">pic.twitter.com/skEoH97oIJ</a></p>&mdash; Virtus Segafredo Bologna (@VirtusSegafredo) <a href="https://twitter.com/VirtusSegafredo/status/1735417753333342292?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“Every game is tough,” Belinelli added. “We fought here to win the game and we knew that the game was hard because Baskonia is a great team and they play physical. We played well, we played like a team, we played hard and I think we controlled the game well in the last 3 or 4 minutes.”

After grabbing its third road win in six games away from home, Virtus returns to Virtus Segafredo Arena for Round 15 on Tuesday, when the Italian side will face Olympiacos Piraeus in its bid to clinch its eighth victory in nine home duels.

More Virtus News

Marco Belinelli of Virtus Segafredo Bologna raises his arms after his team beat Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in Round 14 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

Marco Belinelli turned back the clock to lead Virtus past Baskonia

The veteran sharpshooter achieved his career high in points on a night in which he passed the 1,000-point mark in his EuroLeague career.

Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz v Virtus Segafredo Bologna (2023-12-14T19:30:00.000Z)

Kostas Antetokounmpo was Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens's X-factor in its 81-89 road win over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. His defense and intense allowed Panathinaikos to get the boost it needed down the stretch. 


Antetokounmpo's critical defense helps Greens

Though he did not play much of a role for the first three quarters of the game, Kostas Antetokounmpo provided the defense and intensity that Panathinaikos needed down the stretch. In fact, Antetokounmpo played just 31 seconds at the end of the third quarter. But when Mathias Lessort was called for his fourth foul early in the fourth quarter and Olek Balcerowski struggled to stop physical center John Egbunu, Panathinaikos head coach Ergin Ataman decided to give Antetokounmpo a shot. And Antetokounmpo made the most of it.

With the game tied at 69-69, Antetokounmpo used his long arms to grab an offensive rebound and get a three-point play opportunity. He grabbed an offensive rebound later on and had two monster blocks to stop ASVEL's comeback. First, he rejected Joffrey Lauvergne's dunk attempt almost half a meter above the rim, in what will surely be one of the best blocks of the season. Antetokounmpo then had another huge block on Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.

Despite missing all of his 5 free-throw attempts, Antetokounmpo finished the game with a PIR of 4, getting 2 points, 3 rebounds, an assist, 2 blocks and 3 fouls drawn in 7 minutes and 22 seconds on the floor.

Kostas Antetokounmpo changed the game on defense, allowing Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens to beat LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 81-89 on the road in Round 14.

Antetokounmpo gives Panathinaikos critical spark

Once Panathinaikos stepped up on defense behind Antetokounmpo's physicality, things started to roll on offense. ASVEL was within 74-76 with 3 minutes remaining when Marius Grigonis struck from beyond the arc and Mitoglou followed Sloukas's six-meter jumper with his own shot from downtown to seal the outcome, 76-84, in the next-to-last minute.

Sloukas and Coach Ataman did not miss the chance to praise Antetokounmpo's efforts after the game.

"I think we took good decisions on offense in the last 5 minutes. We executed on offense and had open shots," Kostas Sloukas said after the game. "We took the rebounds and Kostas \[Antetokounmpo\] helped us a lot also on defense with 3-4 blocks and finally, we took the win."

"Defensively, I would like to say that we had a great contribution in the last quarter from Kostas Antetokounmpo," Coach Ataman said. "He gave us what we needed on defense to protect our paint and we got an important victory after three losses in a row. Now, I hope we start to win again."

Game Videos

Game News

Antetokounmpo was Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens's X-factor in its 81-89 road win over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. 


Kostas Antetokounmpo's critical defense helped the Greens

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne v Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens (2023-12-14T20:00:00.000Z)

Panathinaikos B.C. gave a late push to defeat LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 81-89 in Round 14 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague Regular Season.

Greens finish strong to beat ASVEL 81-89

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Live Blog: LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne vs. Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens.

Kostas Sloukas and Dinos Mitoglou posted double-doubles to lead Panathinaikos to a road win in France. 

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv has been more of an offensive team all season but it was the Israeli champs' second-half defense that delivered an important victory over Anadolu Efes Istanbul. 

Maccabi rides second-half defense to important win

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv has been more of an offensive team all season but it was the Israeli champs' second-half defense that delivered an important victory over Anadolu Efes Istanbul.

Maccabi gave up just 38 second-half points after allowing 48 points in the first 20 minutes to register a 95-86 home win over Efes to move to 8-6 with a third win in the last four games.

“It was a big win for us. In the end, it was our effort in the second half. We adapted a little bit and changed a few things on defense. I like the way the team responded in the second half. It was all about defense,” Maccabi head coach Oded Kattash said.

Maccabi entered the game ranked third in scoring at 85.8 points per game and the offense surpassed that, but Kattash’s men had given up 87.6 points per game coming into the contest - the second most in the league. Maccabi kept Efes under that mark and an even better number was Efes shooting just 48.8% on two-pointers. Maccabi had been last in opposing team’s two-point shooting at 59.2%.

In a meeting of direct rivals on the edge of the playoffs places, Maccabi faces Efes in a bid to break their respective part of a five-way tie for sixth place. Both teams have performed better offensively than defensively, with the Turks ranked 15th for allowing 86.4 ppg and the hosts 17th at 87.6 ppg.

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv-Anadolu Efes Istanbul | Round 14 Highlights | 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague

Maccabi also did a strong job on Efes star guard Shane Larkin, who scored 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting to go with 6 assists for an index rating of 18. Larkin had ranked third in average index rating with 20.3 per game and was third in scoring with 17.7 per game.

But Larkin had really stepped up his game with all the Efes injuries and he averaged 25.0 points in his last four games, including dropping 32 points on ALBA Berlin in Round 13.

“What decided the game was a lot of grit, a lot of defensive stops. We focused our main attention on Shane. We sent two guys at him and made him throw the ball to whoever on the court. And we had to score on the offensive end as well,” said Maccabi guard Lorenzo Brown, who had 21 points and 5 assists. “We needed this win just for our sanity. We got back on our feet. It was a great team win.”

More Maccabi News

The Israeli champs held Efes to 38 second-half points to prevail.  

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv v Anadolu Efes Istanbul (2023-12-14T19:05:00.000Z)

Real Madrid Baloncesto finished strong to ruin Pablo Laso's return to WiZink Center, with Los Blancos beating FC Bayern Munich 88-73 in Round 14 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague Regular Season.

Real Madrid keeps rolling with 88-73 home win over Bayern

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Facundo Campazzo of Real Madrid is defended by Leandro Bolmaro of FC Bayern Munich in Round 14 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

Los Blancos spoiled Pablo Laso's return to WiZink Center by putting their foot on the gas late on.

Real Madrid v FC Bayern Munich (2023-12-14T19:45:00.000Z)

Round 14 in the 2023-24 EuroLeague season has come to a close, with some notable results taking place during Friday's three fixtures.

Game Center: Fenerbahçe Beko triumphs on Saras's debut; Valencia Basket, Olimpia Milano both win on the road

### Friday, December 15

[Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 86-74 AS Monaco](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/news/euroleague-live-blog-fenerbahce-beko-vs-as-monaco-basket/)

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul continued its perfect record at home in the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season with an 86-74 win against AS Monaco in Round 14. On what was Saras Jasikevicius's first game in charge of Fenerbahce, the team led for almost the entire night as it improved to a 7-7 record. Monaco, meanwhile, dropped to a 8-6 mark.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="tr" dir="ltr">Evimizde galibiyet bizim! 💪<br><br>Tebrikler Fenerbahçe Beko! 👏<br><br>Maç Sonucu | Fenerbahçe Beko 🆚 <a href="https://twitter.com/ASMonaco_Basket?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ASMonaco_Basket</a>: 86-74<br><br>Skor dağılımımız: Hayes-Davis 23, Wilbekin 13, Guduric 10, Sertaç 9, Madar 7, Calathes 7, Motley 6, Sestina 5, Pierre 4, Dorsey 2. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YellowLegacy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YellowLegacy</a> <a href="https://t.co/xuyrnDSrjo">pic.twitter.com/xuyrnDSrjo</a></p>&mdash; Fenerbahçe Beko (@FBBasketbol) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol/status/1735747433391427602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Olympiacos Piraeus 56-63 Valencia Basket](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/game-center/2023-24/olympiacos-piraeus-valencia-basket/E2023/126/)

Valencia Basket used its defense to shock Olympiacos Piraeus 56-63 on the road in Round 14 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season. That's now three wins in a row for Valencia, which improved its record to 8-6, while Olympiacos suffered its third home loss of the season to drop to a 7-7 record.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">🔥 𝙑𝙄𝘾𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙄𝘼 🔥<br>🔥 𝙀𝙉 𝙀𝙇 𝙋𝙄𝙍𝙀𝙊 🔥<br><br>Asaltamos una de las pistas más complicadas en Europa. ¡¡VAMOS!! 🧡<br><br>🏆 J14 <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroLeague?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EuroLeague</a><a href="https://twitter.com/Olympiacos_BC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Olympiacos_BC</a> 56<br>🆚 <a href="https://twitter.com/valenciabasket?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@valenciabasket</a> 63<br>🤝 <a href="https://twitter.com/movistar_es?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@movistar_es</a> <br><br>Se vienen varios en casa ahora, familia, vamos a luchas junt@s 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/D0NHkLidB6">pic.twitter.com/D0NHkLidB6</a></p>&mdash; Valencia Basket Club (@valenciabasket) <a href="https://twitter.com/valenciabasket/status/1735767833286492160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[FC Barcelona 86-90 EA7 Emporio Armani Milan](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/news/euroleague-live-blog-barca-basket-vs-olimpia-milano/)

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan (5-9) celebrated a shock 86-90 win at FC Barcelona (10-4) to snap its poor run of form and rekindle its hopes of making the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs. This result dented Barcelona's hopes of catching up with runaway leader and reigning champ Real Madrid (13-1) at the top of the standings.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="it" dir="ltr">L’Olimpia sbanca il Palau Blaugrana! 🔥✅<br>Shields nel primo tempo e Hall nel secondo guidando l’Olimpia alla vittoria! <br><br>(Hall 21 pts, Shields 19, Melli 16, Flaccadori 15)<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/insieme?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#insieme</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/olimpiamilano?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#olimpiamilano</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForzaOlimpia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ForzaOlimpia</a> <a href="https://t.co/i8An34Lpy8">pic.twitter.com/i8An34Lpy8</a></p>&mdash; Olimpia Milano (@OlimpiaMI1936) <a href="https://twitter.com/OlimpiaMI1936/status/1735775708583014669?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

### Thursday, December 14

[Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade vs. ALBA Berlin](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/game-center/2023-24/crvena-zvezda-meridianbet-belgrade-alba-berlin/E2023/124/)

Zvezda brushed aside ALBA 85-71 after taking control midway through the contest and never letting go. Zvezda improved to 5-9, while ALBA dropped to 2-12. Zvezda pulled away to lead 51-42 at halftime and used its defense to lock up the result early. Rokas Giedraitis shined with 19 points against his former club with 19 while Nemanja Nedovic scored a game-high 20. Milos Teodosic contributed 12 points and Dejan Davidovac 10. Louis Olinde paced ALBA with 13 points..

Zvezda hope home comforts can provide respite from two narrow road losses as it hosts stuttering ALBA, which are battling to escape the basement of the standings. The visitors may need to provide support for Johannes Thiemann in controlling the physical play of Joel Bolomboy and Luka Mitrovic.

Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade vs ALBA Berlin | Round 14 | Highlights

[Zalgiris Kaunas 85-93 Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/game-center/2023-24/zalgiris-kaunas-partizan-mozzart-bet-belgrade/E2023/121/)

Partizan snapped its four-game road losing streak  by downing Zalgiris 85-93 in Round 14 to improve to 8-6 in the standings. Zalgiris dropped to 5-9. Kevin Punter paced the winners with 22 points. PJ Dozier added 16 points, James Nunnally 14, Zach LeDay 13 and Bruno Caboclo 12 for Partizan. Keenan Evans led Zalgiris with a career high 33 points. Rolands Smits added 18 and Tomas Dimsa had 11 for the hosts. Partizan led from tipoff to final buzzer and was up by as many as 17 points in between.

Lacking in offensive fluency, Zalgiris ranks 17th in assists with just 15.2 ppg, a figure that won't be helped by the loss of point guard Lukas Lekavicius to injury. Meanwhile, Partizan have no issues of that nature, ranking second in scoring with 87.2 ppg and leading the league in two-point conversion rate.

Zalgiris Kaunas vs Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade | Round 14 | Highlights


[Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 95-86 Anadolu Efes Istanbul](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/game-center/2023-24/maccabi-playtika-tel-aviv-anadolu-efes-istanbul/E2023/122/)

Maccabi took control in the fourth quarter to seize an important 95-86 home win over Efes and improve to 8-6 with a third win in four games. Efes fell to 7-7. Lorenzo Brown paced four Maccabi double-figures scorers with 21 points. Bonzie Colson adeed 19, James Webb 14 and Tamir Blatt 12 points. Efes, too, had four double-digit scorers with Darius Thompson netting 22 points, Mike Daum 20, Shane Larkin 17 and Tyrique Jones 12 points. After 30 close minutes, Blatt's 3 three-pointers early in the fourth quarter sent Maccabi in front for good.

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv vs Anadolu Efes Istanbul | Round 14 | Highlights

[Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 81-91 Virtus Segafredo Bologna](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/game-center/2023-24/baskonia-vitoria-gasteiz-virtus-segafredo-bologna/E2023/120/)

Virtus nailed a hugely impressive 81-91 road win at Baskonia to climb to a 10-4 record and retain its hold on third place. Baskonia dropped to 8-6. The hosts led 70-68 with 7 minutes left before a 10-0 run by Virtus cleared its way to victory. Marco Belinelli scored a season-high 27 points, Tornike Shengelia had 16 and Isaia Cordinier paired his 12 points with 8 rebounds. Chima Moneke paced the hosts with 16 points, followed by Maik Kotsar, who had 13. 

Baskonia may have to find a way of stopping its own former star, Toko Shengelia, who continued his stellar season with 27 points in Virtus' victory over Maccabi. Long-range fireworks could come from prolific three-point shooter Markus Howard, while Marco Belinelli is also regarded as a major deep threat.

Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz vs Virtus Segafredo Bologna | Round 14 | Highlights

[Real Madrid 88-73 FC Bayern Munich](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/game-center/2023-24/real-madrid-fc-bayern-munich/E2023/119/)

Real's record rose to 13-1 record with an 88-73 home win over Bayern and the hosts' former head coach, Pablo Laso. Bayern gave the hosts a stern test through three quarters, but Real recovered to secure the win behind 16 points from Sergio Llull. Facundo Campazzo chipped in with 13, Mario Hezonja 12, Sergio Rodriguez and Vincent Poirier 11 each. For Bayern, Isaac Bonga stood out with 15 points and Devin Booker poured 14.

The spotlight will fall on Bayern coach Pablo Laso, who returns to face his former club for the first time in an official capacity since his glorious 11-year reign. Expect a fierce battle inside the paint as Real giant Walter Tavares is confronted by the dynamic, and daunting, duo of Serge Ibaka and Devin Booker.

Real Madrid vs FC Bayern Munich | Round 14 | Highlights

[LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 82-89 Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/game-center/2023-24/ldlc-asvel-villeurbanne-panathinaikos-aktor-athens/E2023/118/)

Panathinaikos returned to winning ways by downing LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 81-89. The Greens improved to 7-7 while ASVEL dropped to 2-12. Marius Grigonis led the winners with 19 points. Kostas Sloukas added 18 and a career-high 12 assists, Dinos Mitoglou scored 16 points, Mathias Lessort 14 and Kendrick Nunn 13 for Panathinaikos. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot led ASVEL with 17 points, while Youssoupha Fall added 13 and Joffrey Lauvergne posted 10 points and 11 rebounds.

ASVEL playmaker Paris Lee, who's averaged 6.8 assists in the last four, tries to dominate the backcourt against the team he represented in 22/23. Meanwhile, the Greens hope Kendrick Nunn continues his excellent form after scoring 19, 13 and 24 points in the last three to boost their playoff-ambitions.

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne vs Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens | Round 14 | Highlights

Game Center: Fener triumphs on Saras's debut; Valencia, Milan both win on the road

FC Barcelona v EA7 Emporio Armani Milan (2023-12-15T19:30:00.000Z)

Olympiacos Piraeus v Valencia Basket (2023-12-15T19:15:00.000Z)

Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade v ALBA Berlin (2023-12-14T18:00:00.000Z)

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul v AS Monaco (2023-12-15T17:45:00.000Z)

Zalgiris Kaunas v Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade (2023-12-14T18:00:00.000Z)

Virtus Bologna improved to 10-4 in the 2023-24 EuroLeague standings after beating Saski Baskonia, which dropped to 8-6, 81-91 at Buesa Arena in Round 14.

Virtus Bologna powers past Saski Baskonia on the road, 81-91

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Toko Shengelia of Virtus Segafredo Bologna has possession against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in Round 14 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

Marco Belinelli, Toko Shengelia and Isaia Cordinier all shined on the night for the Italian visitors.

Virtus powers past Baskonia on the road, 81-91

Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. improved to 8-6 with a 95-86 victory over Anadolu Efes S.K. in Belgrade in Round 14 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague Regular Season.

Maccabi holds off Efes 95-86

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EuroLeague Live Blog: Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul.

The Israeli champs pulled away late to secure another win in their home away from home, Belgrade. 

One week after shining against Saski Baskonia, KK Crvena zvezda forward Rokas Giedraitis impressed against another of his former teams in ALBA Berlin in Round 14 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague Regular Season.

Rokas Giedraitis punished his former club... again 

The law of haunting former clubs meant that Rokas Giedraitis was always likely to take a central role when [Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade hosted ALBA Berlin](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/news/euroleague-live-blog-kk-crvena-zvezda-vs-alba-berlin/) on Thursday night, and so it proved. The Lithaunia international shined in Round 14, recording 19 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals as Zvezda coasted to a comfortable 85-71 home victory.

The experienced forward moved to Serbia during the summer after a three-season stint with Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, having earlier started his career in the elite of European basketball with two seasons at ALBA. Whilst playing for ALBA, he earned a selection to the All-EuroCup First Team in 2018-19 and then enjoyed a strong debut season in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague in 2019-20.

Rokas Giedraitis had 19 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals as Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade beat ALBA Berlin 85-71 in Round 14 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

Rokas Giedraitis's highlights vs. ALBA

After seeing their team sign a proven veteran performer, Zvezda fans could have been forgiven for expecting more from Giedraitis than he showed during the opening weeks of the season. Before last week, he had only reached double digits in scoring on two occasions and had recorded nine consecutive single-digit PIRS after the Round 13 loss at Valencia.

### Giedraitis has rediscovered his groove

Something needed to provide a spark and it came on familiar territory last Friday night, as he delivered his best performance of the season in a narrow loss at former club Baskonia, netting 24 points on 5-of-9 three-point shooting along with 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

And on Thursday night back at his new home in Belgrade, he was on the money again to produce his second consecutive strong game against an old employer.

### He put Zvezda in charge against ALBA

Giedraitis was decisive from the early stages, scoring 5 points in a 10-2 run that first gave Zvezda control of the game. He soon added another triple to reach halftime as the game’s leading scorer with 12 points, then kept on shining after the interval with 7 points in less than 7 minutes to start the third quarter. That contribution also served to take the game away from ALBA for good and completed his scoring for the night.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Another buzzer-beater from Giedraitis, to continue his three-point shooting spree 🚨<br><br>🏀 66:50<br>⏱️ 3:41 Q3<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/kkcz?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#kkcz</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreTheTeam?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreTheTeam</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EveryGameMatters?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EveryGameMatters</a> <a href="https://t.co/X058uhn2Pg">pic.twitter.com/X058uhn2Pg</a></p>&mdash; KK Crvena zvezda Meridianbet (@kkcrvenazvezda) <a href="https://twitter.com/kkcrvenazvezda/status/1735380118640410709?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

After the game, Giedraitis allowed himself to be content with his contribution... but only to an extent. "This will give us more confidence in each other," he said. "We played a really good second half. Let's enjoy it now... at least until tomorrow!"

Like Zvezda in general, Giedraitis has taken a while to get going this season. But with PIRs of 24 and 23 in his last two games, the 31-year-old has shown promising signs that he’s ready to become a key player for the Crvena Zvezda men. Now he just needs to repeat that form against a team he didn’t formerly represent.

More Zvezda News

Rokas Giedraitis in action for Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade against ALBA Berlin in Round 14 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

The Zvezda forward shined against ALBA in Round 14, one week after impressing against another of his ex-teams, Baskonia.