A win in the VTB United League gives more chances to advance

Yesterday the fifth match of "Lietuvos rytas" in VTB United League was played. The adversary was a team from Tallinn named "Kalev". This time "Lietuvos rytas" took a convincing victory by 13 points - 73:60. Even though the game wasn't as exciting as I expected it to be, some important things were revealed during the game. Nemanja Nedovic scored 18 points and made 5 rebounds. We certainly have players that can be the star of the team. They just lack of consistency. This quality comes in time, so maybe will see some "rising stars" in the future.

"Lietuvos rytas" won without three main players

Dejan Ivanov made a great performance with 12 points as well. The fans are making fun of Arturas Jomantas who made a total of 2 points. I suspect it's because people just check statistics, in which he doesn't show his skills. He is more of a defensive player. No matter what - the team needs him.

Image source: kauno.diena.lt

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"Lietuvos rytas" secures another win in VTB United League

Last Sunday "Lietuvos rytas" played a match against Donetsk "Donetsk" in VTB United League. After our recent loss to Khimki, we had 3 wins and 4 losses.
The first quarter immediately identified our biggest problem - defence. In addition to an 8:0 run by our opponents, we let them make easy baskets all quarter long. After the first ten minutes we were traveling 20:35.
In the beginning of the second quarter "Donetsk" players put together a 17 point lead. On that moment our guys knew that if they wanted to win, they have to start climbing back right away. Leon Radosevic and Nemanja Nedovic started to score consecutive baskets and after Janis Blums scored a three pointer we were only down by 8 points. Before the final seconds of the quarter we were only travelling by 5 points, but "Donetsk" guard Ramel Curry scored a three pointer to make the score 45:53.
The third quarter was a huge battle, both teams gave everything they've got. Eimantas Bendzius made a big three pointer on the last minutes, but Ramel Curry once again answered back with one of his own to end the quarter 70:76.
The last quarter started great for "Lietuvos rytas". We made a 7:2 run, which helped us approach our adversaries - we were only down by 1 point. Later Janis Blums made a three pointer which gave us the lead, but R. Curry answered back again. During the last minute we had a two point lead, but we let our opponents score a 2 pointer in the end to make the score 92:92. This meant we will be heading to overtime.
The overtime was a thriller, but a steady shot and a successful free-throw from Simas Buterlevicius secured "Lietuvos rytas" a fourth win at 99:97.

After an exhausting match "Lietuvos rytas" got their 4th win

Even though Renaldas Seibutis didn't play again, we fought hard and won. That's the beauty of teamwork!

Image source: basketnews.lt

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