ASVEL needed something extraordinary to get back in the win column after more than nine months and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot delivered.
Luwawu-Cabarrot made sure ASVEL snapped 18-game losing streak
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3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 6 of 34
Regular Season
Zalgiris KaunasZAL
8891
LDLC ASVEL VilleurbanneASV
Overview
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LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne finally celebrated victory again as the French side rallied to beat Zalgiris Kaunas 88-91 and snap an 18-game losing streak - thanks in large part to an amazing fourth quarter performance by Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.
ASVEL was down by 13 points, 78-65, at the end of the third quarter, but the team found the energy defensively to hold Zalgiris to just 8 points in the fourth quarter and fight its way back into the game.
Trailing 86-82 with 2:30 minutes to go, it was time for Luwawu-Caborrat to take over. The former NBA player grabbed a steal and was fouled, resulting in 2 free throws. He followed that with 3 perfect foul shots after getting fouled by Zalgiris leader Keenan Evans on a shot from the arc.
Then, with his team still trailing 88-87, he grabbed a Zalgiris miss, dribbled the ball up the court, and did not give it up. Eventually he drove to the lane, stopped and hit a jumper with 19 seconds for an 88-89 ASVEL lead.
Finally, Luwawu-Caborrat locked up the win when he secured another Zalgiris miss with 2.7 seconds left, providing the final score with 2 more free throws.
Over that final stretch, the 28-year-old out-scored Zalgiris by himself 9-2. He finished with 19 points – tying his career high – to go with 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals.
"I felt great," Luwawu-Caborrat said about the end of the game. "That's what I am here for. I was waiting for that moment for a long time. I am very happy that I could help the team win at the end."
Luwawu-Caborrat missed the last two games and he went scoreless in 15 minutes again Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Round 3. And he said the team was really relieved about its first EuroLeague win in 9 months and 7 days.
"We've been waiting for that win for a long time. Finally it's here. We are very happy," he said. "We played together from the beginning to the end. It was a great game. We got our thing together in the second half and that's how we won."
Luwawu-Caborrat added that the team never doubted it would win.
"We never thought we would lose, and that is the spirit we need," he said. "That's the spirit we had. I'm just so happy right now."
