Zalgiris 66-77 Barça: Final Four guaranteed
A professional performance saw Barça beat Zalgiris 66-77 in Kaunis and quickly guarantee their place in the EuroLeague Final Four for the third year in a row.
Slow burner to start
Barça started the game promisingly, with the defensive set up frustrating their opponent's attack, only allowing them to score three points with seven minutes already on the clock (3-13). However, Tomas Dimsa brought Zalgiris into the game with five points. 10-13 at the end of the first.
The points dried up for Barça in the second until Álex Abrines and Nikola Mirotic scored three-pointers to ensure they went in with a slight lead at the break (26-29).
Decisive third quarter
The game lit up in this quarter first through Tomas Satoransky with a couple of three-pointers, aided by three free throws by Laprovittola, opening up a sizeable lead.
However it was Mike Tobey off the bench with nine points from three-pointers that opened up a 16 point lead, only reduced by three by Lekavicius right on the buzzer (48-61).
Back to Kaunas to play the Final Four!
Barça may have scored more points in 10 minutes than in the previous 20, but Zalgiris refused to give up that easily and Jasekivicius used two time outs to try to stem the tide.
Ultimately, Vesely scored four points in the final quarter, with Abrines chipping in, to extend the lead to +13 with just over five minutes to go. This paved way to a professional performance to see out the game and guarantee a place in the EuroLeague Final Four from May 19 to 21, again in Kaunus!
Game stats
Zalgiris: 66
Barça: 77
Zalgiris: Taylor (6), Smits (0), Brazdeikis (7), Butkevicius (6), Ulanovas (13) - starting five - Lekavicius (8), Hayes (4), Birutis (12), Polonara (2) and Dimsa (8).
Barça: Satoransky (14), Laprovittola (3), Abrines (9), Mirotic (9), Vesely (14) - starting five - Sanli (2), Sergi Martínez (0), Kalinic (2), Tobey (13), Kuric (0) and Jokubaitis (11).
Quarters: 10-13; 16-16; 22-32; 18-16
Referees: Damir Javor, Tomislav Hordov, Uros Nikolic