Regular Season Game 9 - December 21, 2006 CET: 20:45 Local time: 20:45 - PALAELDO

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
0-0 Playoffs 0-0
0-0 Top 16 0-0
0-2 Regular Season 1-0
2-6 Overall 1-7

Referees

Crew Chief
JUNGEBRAND, CARL, Finland
Referee
LOPES, LUIS, Portugal
Umpire
MIKHAYLOV, SERGEY, Russia

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
71.9 Points 79.1
31.3 Rebounds 33.5
10.5 O. Rebounds 11.1
20.8 D. Rebounds 22.4
9.0 Assists 14.6
14.6 Steals 11.1
2.8 Blocks 1.6
13.3 Turnovers 13.0
47.6 % 2PT 57.3 %
28.2 % 3PT 31.5 %
74.3 % FT 69.2 %
68.0 Index 87.1

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
14.3 / BROWN, T. Points 13.8 / BEARD, TANOKA
6.6 / ROCCA, MASON Rebounds 9.8 / BEARD, TANOKA
3.3 / ROCCA, MASON OR 3.3 / BEARD, TANOKA
3.5 / CITTADINI, ALESSANDRO DR 6.5 / BEARD, TANOKA
2.5 / SPINELLI, V. Assists 4.9 / Popovic
1.6 / CITTADINI, ALESSANDRO Steals 1.6 / Maciulis
1.0 / SESAY, ANSU Blocks 0.6 / Maciulis
2.0 / SPINELLI, V. Turnovers 2.1 / Maciulis
67.9 % / CITTADINI, ALESSANDRO 2PT 80.0 % / GINEVICIUS, VIDAS
50.0 % / MALAVENTURA,MATTEO 3PT 50.0 % / MOTTOLA, HANNO
100.0 % / MALAVENTURA,MATTEO FT 100.0 % / MACHADO, M.
13.7 / ROCCA, MASON Index 18.4 / BEARD, TANOKA

THE TAKE

Eldo Napoli hosts Zalgiris Kaunas on Thursday in Naples, Italy for a Group C matchup of teams who are down to very slim Top 16 chances: as such, the winner between him could save its season based on this game. Napoli (2-6) has lost four of its last five games and is tied for sixth place, two victories out of fifth place, the last guaranteed Top 16 spot. Last week Eldo went down 82-72 at defending champion CSKA Moscow as the team was outrebounded 37-21. The play of Tyrone Ellis, who scored a season-high 15 points on 5-of-8 from behind the arc, was the only real bright spot for Eldo in that game. Zalgiris (1-7) has dropped six straight games to fall to 1-7 - the worst record in the Euroleague - and seventh place. Last week, Zalgiris went down 76-86 at home to Benetton, despite a 15-point, 9-rebound effort by Tanoka Beard. Zalgiris might have had options in that game if its free throw shooters had not missed half of their 24 attempts. Zalgiris's only win this season came at Napoli's expense back in Week 2. Beard had 17 points and 11 boards to lead Zalgiris to an 83-65 victory. But this game will see some different players in action. Zalgiris top scorer Marko Popovic (15.1 ppg., 4.9 apg.) will miss another game due to injury, while big man Hanno Mottola, who had 17 points in that first game against Napoli, is not at full strength, the same as forward Paulius Jankunas. Meanwhile, Eldo released its top scorer, Tiere Brown, a couple weeks back. The changes in the Zalgiris lineup put more of a focus on a few key players: Beard (13.8 ppg., 9.8 rpg.), forward Jonas Maciulis (11.9 ppg.), swingman Marcelinho Machado and rookie point guard Mantas Kalnietis. Much of their attention will need to be on perimeter defense as they try to hound a Napoli attack that is last in the league in assists (9 apg.), three-point shooting (28.2%) and generates only 71.9 points per game. Napoli's offense will be led by Ellis, with Mason Rocca (11.6 ppg., 6.6 rpg.) a main target inside, with Jeff Trepagnier (10.3 ppg.) and Ansu Sesay (7.5 ppg., 4.7 rpg., 1 bpg.) on the wings. This game could well come down to which role players step up most. The matchups of Eldo's Valerio Spinelli, who dished a career-high 6 assists last week, against Kalnietis, or Napoli's Michel Morandais (9 ppg.) on Zalgiris shooter Kirk Penney (8.3 ppg., 48.3% 3FG), are certainly worthy of keeping an eye on.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Euroleague.net - Antanas Pakula, Kaunas

Quotes Head Coaches

BUCCHI, PIERO
Eldo Napoli
"Against Zalgiris, it will be another game to play with great consistency and total focus, and we have to put on the court all our attitude. It won't be easy, but our goal is get the win because the numbers are on your side, and we can still get the dream of reaching the Top 16. It will be a one great match to see, with great intensity, and we will try to give to our fans another win."
GRIGAS, RIMANTAS
Zalgiris
"Eldo at the start of the season and Eldo now are two different teams. Now, this team is improving day by day. They play more as a team. They distribute the ball smartly and use the backcourt as well as the frontcourt players. I think it's related with the release of Tierre Brown. Before, he was Eldo's first scoring option and it was clear that we had to stop him. More or less successfully, we did that in the first game against Eldo. This second-leg game won't be so simple because Brown is out and more Eldo players are involved in the offense. It doesn't help that we still have one of our best players, Popovic, injured while Mottola and Jankunas are recovering from their injuries and cannot play at full strength."

Players

ELLIS, TYRONE
Eldo Napoli
"We know perfectly that Zalgiris is a very good team, but we want to take this win and we have the tools to do it. We have to control the match, playing how we like to do, using our best hustle and intensity, as we showed in Treviso. We will never look at the standings, since we know that every game until the end of the regular season could be crucial to reach our dream."
MACHADO, MARCELINHO
Zalgiris
"Napoli team is a very dangerous team. They are trying to get qualified for the Top 16. They play at home, so they're going to put a lot of energy on the floor, but we are going there to bring the victory home. They have very good shooters and their players like to play one-on-one. We have to work very hard on defense if we want to win the game. It will be tough task because they have many players who can score and we cannot focus our defense on one or two of them. We have to take care of their whole team. We will have to put a lot of energy into it. We had good game against Pau, but we need to be more consistent if we want to win games like that."
Michel Morandais - Eldo Napoli Tyrone Ellis led six Eldo Napoli scorers in double figures with 18 points as his team remained in the hunt for a spot in the Top 16 with a 92-87 victory Thursday over Zalgiris Kaunas in Naples, Italy. The game went down to the wire and became a free-throw shooting contest, with Vidas Ginevicius missing two crucial ones and Ellis making 5-of-6 in the final minute to help Napoli improve to 3-6, good for sixth place in Group C. Zalgiris dropped its seventh straight game, falling to 1-8 and last place in the standings. Ellis added 8 assists and 3 steals in the winning effort, while Michel Morandais matched his season-high with 16 points, Jeff Trepagnier had 15, Mason Rocca 12, Alessandro Cittadini 11 and Ansu Sesay 10. Tanoka Beard posted 26 points and 9 rebounds for Zalgiris, Hanno Mottola added 16, Paulius Jankunas 12 and Mantas Kalnietis 10.

Morandais started strong for Eldo with 4 quick points, and Sesay added a three before Marcelinho Machado answered back from downtown for Zalgiris. Beard went to work underneath and a second bomb from Machado gave Zalgiris its first lead. Jankunas added a basket from the low post as Kaunas started to gain confidence, but Eldo soon reduced the gap via Morandais. Two free throws by Jankunas made it 13-18 for the visitors, but a pair of Simone Flamini three pointers combined with Cittadini's best efforts on the glass brought the hosts right back. Trepagnier's basket and a bomb by Beard ended the first quarter with the score knotted at 21-21.

Jonas Maciulis - Zalgiris KaunasMantas Kalnietis opened the second quarter with a fast-break only to see the momentum swing back to Napoli as Trepagnier finished off an alley-hoop and then scored three the hard way to make it 26-23. Eldo's defense shut down Machado, but allowed Zalgiris some open shots from the corner. Trepagnier was at his best, again scoring a three-pointer and Cittadini stole a ball and scored to put Napoli ahead by 5. Kaunas coach Rimantas Grigas sent Mottola in lto beef up his rebounding, but Napoli played with more intensity and increased its lead to 35-29 through an inside basket by Flamini. Ginevicius's layup showed signs of life from Zalgiris, but Napoli was not ready to relax and closed the first half with 4 points from Rocca. On the other side, Jonas Maciulis's free throws made it 43-38 at halftime.

Ellis opened the second half with a triple, but Beard answered with two points. Morandais scored a layup to give Eldo a 6-point advantage, but Beard again scored a free throw and a basket from the high post before Ginevicius tied the game at 48-48. Ellis and Sesay with a basket and a triple lifted Napoli up again and Rocca's layup capped a 7-0 spurt. Ginevicius missed a three and Morandais scored two free throws to make it 59-50. Jankunas scored a layup, but Eldo erased it when Morandais hit from behind the arc and soon added two free throws for Eldo's first double-digit advantage. Beard went inside for a slam and Kirk Penney scored on the break to close the gap to 68-61 after 30 minutes, keeping the visitors' hope alive.

Two bad mistakes by Valerio Spinelli gave Beard and Kalnietis the opportunity for a brilliant start to the fourth quarter that put Zalgiris back on track, 68-67, causing Eldo coach Pier Luigi Bucchi to call a time out. Ellis came back from a brief rest, but Zalgiris went on top through Mottola's triple, finishing a 0-9 run in 90 seconds that put Kaunus up 2. Rocca scored and then Trepagnier made a layup as the lead swung back to the home side. Mottola and Morandais and then Kalnietis and Cittadini traded baskets before Trepagnier scored another triple, but Beard came through once more. Cittadini made two from the line with two minutes remaining, and Maciulis then missed a triple on the other end. Grigas called a timeout with his side 3 points down, but Ellis made it 4 from the line. With one minute to go, Beard made two free throws and Napoli missed a chance, but then Ellis stole the ball and drew a foul. The guard missed his free throws and Beard brought Zalgiris within 1, but it wasn't enough after two free throws missed by Ginevicius. Ellis then made 4-of-5 from the line in the closing seconds to seal the win, 92-87, for Napoli.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Francesco Tedesco, Naples
Referees: JUNGEBRAND, CARL (FIN), LOPES, LUIS (POR), MIKHAYLOV, SERGEY (RUS)
Attendance: 3158
By Quarter1234
Eldo Napoli21222524
Zalgiris21172326
End of Quarter1234
Eldo Napoli21436892
Zalgiris21386187
Head coach: BUCCHI, PIERO
Eldo Napoli
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
4 SESAY, ANSU 20:00 10 1/4 2/3 2/2 1 1 2 1   1     3 1 6
5 CITTADINI, ALESSANDRO 25:00 11 3/5   5/6 3 4 7 2   2     5 3 13
7 MORENA, DOMENICO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 SPINELLI, VALERIO 8:00 2 1/1 0/4 0/1       2 3       1 1 2
12 ROCCA, MASON 17:00 12 5/6   2/2 4 1 5   1 3     3 2 13
14 FLAMINI, SIMONE 18:00 8 1/3 2/3   1 2 3   3       1   10
16 MALAVENTURA, MATTEO 6:00     0/3                       -3
20 TREPAGNIER, JEFF 24:00 15 4/6 2/5 1/1   2 2   2 2     2 1 11
24 LARRANAGA, JAY 16:00     0/1   1   1   2 2     2   -2
25 ELLIS, TYRONE 32:00 18 2/2 2/9 8/10   4 4 8 3 2   1 3 8 26
30 MORANDAIS, MICHEL 34:00 16 5/6 0/1 6/8 1 9 10   1 6     3 7 21
Team           1   1   6         1 8
Totals 200:00 92 22/33 8/29 24/30 12 23 35 13 21 18 0 1 23 24 105
66.7% 27.6% 80%
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Head coach: GRIGAS, RIMANTAS
Zalgiris
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
4 GINEVICIUS, VIDAS 23:00 7 1/1 1/2 2/4         2       4 3 5
5 MACHADO, MARCELINHO 23:00 8 1/3 2/5   1 1 2   2 2     3   2
6 BEARD, TANOKA 34:00 26 8/11 1/1 7/7 2 7 9 1 1 4     5 7 32
7 PECIUKAS, VAIDOTAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 MACIULIS, JONAS 37:00 6 1/7 0/3 4/6 2 8 10 1 4 3 1   4 6 10
9 KALNIETIS, MANTAS 17:00 10 3/3 1/1 1/2   1 1 3 1 4     1 1 10
10 JASIKEVICIUS, VYTENIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 22:00 12 4/7   4/6 1 1 2   2 3     2 3 9
14 SILINSKIS, DARIUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 PENNEY, KIRK 20:00 2 1/1 0/3     1 1     2         -2
25 MOTTOLA, HANNO 24:00 16 4/7 2/2 2/3 1 3 4   1 2     5 3 13
31 STIMAC, VLADIMIR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           2 2 4   5           9
Totals 200:00 87 23/40 7/17 20/28 9 24 33 5 18 20 1 0 24 23 88
57.5% 41.2% 71.4%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

BUCCHI, PIERO
Eldo Napoli
"We have definitely changed our face. It is an important win against a team of great quality like Zalgiris. We could have closed the game before, but we felt the pressure and gave hem the chance to come back, but then we were cool enough to win. We were good at rebounds with a good distribution of the defensive phase. Now we have a little door open to the Top 16 but we don't look at the ranking. We hope for a win in Greece against Aris, it would be a perfect boost."
GRIGAS, RIMANTAS
Zalgiris
"I want to congratulate Eldo for this deserved victory. We did our best but it wasn't enough. We were expecting a better game from Machado and Penney, but then we paid the absence of our best scorer, Popovic. He is a key player for us and we hope we could have him back or January. We had also Mottola slowed by a recent injury. It's a bad hit for us but as long as there are chances we still believe in making the Top 16."

Players

MORANDAIS, MICHEL
Eldo Napoli
"A nice win and a good Christmas gift for us. We played very well defensively and I'm very satisfied for my ten rebounds. It was a key for the match. Now we have chances to make the Top 16 and we're going to try to make it until the last match. A win in Greece would be a perfect gift for the new year."
BEARD, TANOKA
Zalgiris
"The rebounds were certainly a key for our loss. They defended very well and we had a lot of turnovers. When a team has 20 turnovers it's very difficult to win a game in the Euroleague. Of course we have a lot of regrets: we could have done something better in offense."
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