Two direct rivals aiming to climb closer to the top 10 go head to head for a vital meeting as Andrea Trinchieri takes Zalgiris (11-17) to face his former team, Bayern (12-16).
Pablo Laso, Bayern: 'For both teams, it's a very important game'
Seasons
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 29 of 34
Regular Season
FC Bayern MunichBAY
6458
Zalgiris KaunasZAL
Overview
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The German team will be looking for a defensive improvement after allowing 109 points in last week's loss against Efes, which also saw veteran leader Vladimir Lucic make 5 of 5 triples in his best game since returning from injury. November's meeting between the teams was a thriller, edged 74-73 by Zalgiris with a game-winning basket from team leader Keenan Evans, who has scored at least 18 points in each of the last four games. Slowing down Evans will be the focus of Pablo Laso's defensive preparations.
Pablo Laso, Bayern head coach
"It's positive that we had some time together after last week to train and regenerate. We want to regain the feeling we had before the cup and the national team window by Friday. Zalgiris has a very dominant player, Keenan Evans. Additionally, Hayes and Smits contribute to the big rotation, and Lekavicius and Ulanovas can all shoot well. For me, it's a very complete team that didn't start so well, but since Andrea arrived, they've been doing a good job. For both teams, it's a very important game, just like the one against Zvezda was for both teams recently. I'm not sure if it's already a do-or-die situation, but it's definitely very important."