Home Domestic Leagues Zalgiris take back LKL crown (videos)

Zalgiris take back LKL crown (videos)

Zalgiris won LKL title after two years by crushing arch rivals Lietuvos Rytas in the fifth game of LKL finals. In addition to closing the season, Zalgiris also played its last game in Kaunas Sports Hall which was club’s home for nearly seven decades.

Although many expected LKL finals to end in a 4-0 sweep for Zalgiris, it took five games to determine the strongest team in Lithuania.

Rytas and Zalgiris faced each other three times before LKL finals. All of those games were won by Kaunas side, on of them was a blow-out by 25 points.

However, reigning champions weren’t going to hand the title to Zalgiris without a fight. The first match of the finals saw The Greens taking a win by two points at the final seconds of the game.

The second game was played in Siemens Arena and it was Rytas that managed to record the first win of the season against Zalgiris.

Game three which was played in Kaunas could have gone either way but the hosts finished the game better and grabbed the second narrow win.

Once again Rytas was forced to give their best in order not to let the series slip out of their hands. Though it didn’t go the way they planned as Zalgiris took an important away win in game four.

The fans filled Kaunas Sports Hall for game five hoping to see their favourite club take the title at home. Zalgiris players were very motivated and the crowd only increased it.

Five out of six three pointers scored by Zalgiris in the first quarter put Rytas in a difficult position in a game they couldn’t lose to extend the series.

In spite of efforts by Rytas players to narrow the gap, it continued to increase and reached twenty points in the third quarter. Mantas Kalnietis made the fans go wild as he slammed the ball to the basket on a fast break.

The difference increased further as Zalgiris crushed Rytas 95-69.

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