Zalgiris host Darussafaka Dogus at the Zalgirio Arena on Friday as the Lithuanian champions look to take advantage of the worst rebounding team in the EuroLeague with some big rebounders of their own.
Brock Motum (4.5 rebounds per game), Edgaras Ulanovas (4.8) and Paulius Jankunas (6.5) have been the main contributors to Zalgiris, who lead the EuroLeague in rebounds with 39.3 per game. They will certainly test Darussafaka Dogus’, who rank dead last with an average of 27.5 a game.
But despite the poor effort on the glass, Darussafaka have a balanced attack, led by guards Brad Wanamaker (15 points, 5.8 assists per game) and James Anderson, who averages 11.8 points per game and will be playing against his former club. So, either way, Zalgiris coach Sarunas Jasikevicius is expecting a tough test.
“They like to play fast, they are individually strong, so we have to be physical and we need to create our own shots,” the Zalgiris playcaller said. As always we can not allow the opponents to score easy points and we expect our crowd to push us further on Friday in Kaunas.”
“We really got to come out play really hard to get a win,” Darussafaka Dogus’ James Anderson added. “The most important thing on the road is to get a good start to the game. We need not to let them to have a run to get their fans enter into the game.”
∞∞∞ CRVENA ZVEZDA LOOK TO BUILD ON KOMBANK ARENA ATMOSPHERE ∞∞∞
The Kombank Arena is fast becoming one of the world’s most daunting places to play at if you’re a visiting team. On Friday, Baskonia are looking to silence the sea of red and white when they face Crvena Zvezda at the 2018 Final Four venue.
The Liga Endesa side are still sweating on the fitness of Andrea Bargnani, who didn’t suit up in domestic action last weekend against Unicaja Malaga but have since welcomed Rodrigue Beaubois back from a leg injury.
But Red Star certainly have history behind them. They are 4-0 against Baskonia dating back to when the EuroLeague began in 2000 and will want to make it 5-0 come Friday night.
∞∞∞ ANADOLU EFES WANT TO MAINTAIN HOME FORM OVER PANATHINAIKOS ∞∞∞
The history books show that Panathinaikos have a winning record against Anadolu Efes, but the Turkish side do own a 5-3 winning record against their Greek counterparts ahead of Friday’s EuroLeague clash in Istanbul.
Anadolu Efes are, however looking to turn last week’s win over Darussafaka Dogus into a winning streak as they host one of the EuroLeague’s most successful teams.
“Panathinaikos is a great team,” Anadolu coach Velimir Perasovic said. “They have a very good roster with a new coach. They play with great motivation and they have a very athletic team.
“They also have players with great capacity to create. For me Panathinaikos Superfoods is one of the serious candidate teams for the Final Four. To beat Panathinaikos, you must play in same level of toughness and must not make mistakes.”
