


Zalgiris Kaunas had to battle for 40 minutes to top Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 79-75 in Round 24, breaking a three-game losing streak to improve to 13-11 in the standings.
Zalgiris struggled to rebound the ball under its own rim, as Baskonia reached halftime with 9 offensive rebounds. At the interval, Zalgiris had 9 defensive rebounds, grabbing just half of all boards under its own rim. Things were different in the second half, however, with Zalgiris recording 13 defensive rebounds and limiting Baskonia to 7 offensive boards. By grabbing 65% of all rebounds under its basket, Zalgiris improved its chances to win the game.
The hosts also shot the ball slightly better from all distances, which made the difference in such a close game. Zalgiris hit 19-of-33 two-point shots (57.6% 2FG), as Ronalds Smits nailed all of his 7 attempts inside the arc. It buried 8-of-23 three-pointers (34.8% 3FG), as Ignas Brazdeikis went 3-of-4 from downtown, and 17-of-19 free throws (89.5% FT). Baskonia had the worst percentages all around (55.3% 2FG, 24.0% 3FG, 75.0% FT).