Benneton vs Lietuvos Rytas

Benneton is coming from two consecutive losses, the last one took part in Sunday afternoon @Cantu (79-67) which means that this veteran team will barely get over 48 hours to recuperate for this match. Coach Djordjevic is not trying to hide ambitions or to release his team from possible pressure, he was very honest and frank here, he said that this is the game of the season for his ball club. With a W, they are through. When looking at the stats from their last games, it is hard to see in which area they are loosing the battle, except maybe in one-they are not getting on the free throw line as much as they should, and that’s indication they are avoiding physical game and contact. In those two losses Alba and Cantu combined for 48 free throws while Benneton combined for 25 free throws. Benneton with all these older players could feel this high tempo and Rytas is the most athletic team left in the competition,which is not a good combination for their ambitions in this match.

 

Rytas needs a W here to proceed and they will come in a good mood after taking a revenge on Lokomotiv (+21) in VTB league,that surprised them last week in Eurocup (78-82). As expected, Rytas dominated on the glass in both games but the crucial difference came in aggression (29-27 in fouls,40-30 in free throws). Playing better defense and being more efficient from a distance also helped (8/14 for 3) but, to be honest, this is a hard working team that will dominate only if they obey that working part of the game-defense and rebounds. When the legs are tired the finesse is not making a difference, and the guests are way more physical team.I like the chance of this becoming a possible mismatch and I am taking the visitors here, GL!