«Nymburk» Nymburk, Czech Republic vs. «Neptunas» Klaipeda, Lithuania

Czech Nymburk, playing in week four of the regular season, outplayed Lithuanian Neptunas at home, 84-78. Following an even first half, the home side dominated the third quarter and held on to their advantage in the final minutes.

The story
Neptunas came to the Czech Republic intent on securing their first win of the season. The league newcomers began brightly, too, racing to a 15-6 lead by the middle of the first quarter, shaking their opponent’s confidence. The home team took a long time to adjust, taking their first lead only in the middle of the second quarter: Miljan Pavkovic’s three-pointer brought the crowd back into it and started a 13-2 run, which would help Nymburk to a 4-point lead entering halftime.

The conclusion
In the third quarter, the Czech champions solidified their advantage. Petr Benda played well, scoring 3 times in 2 minutes. Halfway through the quarter, Nymburk put on a true display of marksmanship from long range. Their accuracy left the Lithuanian defense in shreds and pushed the lead to 17 points, 68-51. Still, one must credit Maksvytis’s men: they refused to quit and did everything they could to catch up. They cut the deficit to 5, but would come no closer. Nymburk wouldn’t have it and secured its second home win of the season.

The hero
Miljan Pavkovic. The diminutive point guard played very effectively: scoring, assisting his teammates and even rebounding. It’s symbolic that the home team’s #44 shot exclusively from the perimeter, converting 4 of 7 attempts.

Stat of the game
57 – three-point field-goal percentage for the winning team’s most productive players, Miljan Pavkovic and Lukas Palyza. Together, they recorded 8 of Nymburk’s 9 three-pointers in today’s game.

Quotes
Nymburk head coach Ronen Ginzburg:
- For various reasons, this was a very important game for us. First of all, from the perspective of the group standings. Second, we’ve added some new players and we needed to gain experience and coordinate our movement. Finally, Adrian Abrams, a very important member of our team, couldn’t play today. During the course of the game we went through some hot and cold stretches, but that’s to be expected given the circumstances. It will take some time before our newcomers are fully integrated into the team.

Neptunas head coach Kazys Maksvytis:
- We began the game very well, but in the second quarter we lost our advantage. I’m not sure what happened to the team in the third period: we lost [the quarter] by 13 points. We need to get to the bottom of that. I’m happy that our guys didn’t give in and fought to the very end.

Top performers
Nymburk: Miljan Pavkovic – 15 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists.
Neptunas: Deividas Gailius – 24 points, 7 rebounds.