Just a few days before Halloween, Alex Mumbru's group forced the home side into quite a few scares in Round 5 en route to a convincing road win.
Valencia's teamwork caused Zalgiris to endure a 'nightmare' night
Makale
3 Dk okuma
Regular Season
Round 5 of 34
Regular Season
Zalgiris KaunasZAL
7287
Valencia BasketVBC
Overview
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Valencia Basket got back to the winning ways on Friday night, registering its first road win of the season after blowing past Zalgiris Kaunas at Zalgirio Arena, 72-87.
It was an impressive outing in which Valencia never trailed, built a 22-point halftime lead, was up by as many as 29 points in the third quarter and cruised the rest of the way to improve to 4-1.
"This game was like a little nightmare for us", Zalgiris head coach Kazys Maksvytis stated after the game.
Valencia turned on the style early on
Valencia was especially impressive in the first half, in which it scored 52 points, tying a club record for points scored in the first 20 minutes. It managed to do so behind some excellent play from Chris Jones, while Turkish Airlines EuroLeague rookies Boubacar Toure and Nate Reuvers both played a big part.
After the break Brandon Davies paced the team to get the margin to 32-61, and when Zalgiris tried to make a run, Jared Harper scored 8 straight points between the third and fourth quarters to restore a 22-point lead. The final margin of 15 points is tied for Valencia's fourth-largest win in a EuroLeague game this century.
Help on lots of fronts
More proof that Valencia's win was a true team effort is that each of its 12 players scored. The Spanish side made 8 triples but that came from six different players, while it allowed just 6 offensive rebounds on 40 missed field goals by Zalgiris. Meanwhile, the hosts were held to just 7-for-28 from long range.
"I think we are just doing a good job of playing overall together", Harper, who finished with 13 points in 14 minutes, said after this win. "Knowing each other's weaknesses and using each other's strengths and using that to help our team win."
Jones, who paced the team with 16 points, also believes that it is a team effort that has gotten Valencia off to a great start to the season.
"Everybody wants to do the right thing, and I think that is helping us right now," he commented. "As long as we keep that attitude, and work day by day, we will continue to get better."
After just five games, it is way too early in the season to make any predictions, but continuing with such solid performances on both ends of the floor could take Valencia, a club whose only playoff appearance came in 2011, a long way.