Edgaras Ulanovas showed why he is Zalgiris's leader in win against Zvezda
Edgaras Ulanovas was the hero once again for Zalgiris Kaunas as it beat the visiting Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade 71-66 at Zalgirio Arena on Friday night. The Zalgiris team captain emerged as the go-to-guy for his team when everything seemed to be lost, as Zvezda led 57-64 midway through the last period. At that point, it seemed as though Zalgiris wouldn't be able to react in time.
However, a 13-0 run for the hosts turned the game on its head. Ulanovas played a key role in the comeback, as he scored 8 points in that span, including key back-to-back three pointers in crunch time. The first came off an assist from Ignas Braddeikis to bring Zalgiris back in charge, 67-64, while the second came after a one-on-one situation against Filip Petrusev. In addition to getting all the fans off their seats, both buckets destroyed Zvezda’s resistance and sealed the win.
“It was a long game. There were some bad moments in the third quarter and in the beginning of the fourth. We started to lose rhythm; they played really physical [and] didn’t let us score easily,” Ulanovas admitted in his post-game interview. “We needed to suffer a lot, but the thing is that we showed is big character."
Zalgiris head coach Kazys Maksvytis was full of praise for his captain afterward, too: “We had a plan in the fourth quarter: to pass the ball to Ulanovas. Our captain was great; he helped us."
The play of Ulanovas in crunch time was hailed by his teammates, too, as Arnas Butkevicius recognized: “Actually, I don’t know [how we managed to win this game]. Our captain took the ball in his hands and sealed the deal. Absolutely, [Ulanovas is the leader in Keenan Evans's absence]. Especially in crunch time, as he has shown this season a lot of times. He feels good in his team; he is not afraid of taking responsibility and he does it well.”
Ulanovas not only helped his team win, but he also contributed the last point from the line to move to 13 points for the game and allow Zalgiris overcome the 4-point deficit it had from its Round 13 defeat against Zvezda. Few inside Zalgirio Arena would have thought that was even possible when the hosts were down by seven with 5 minutes to go.