Sharo’s (un)repeatable records: the history of Lithuanians in the Euroleague final four

Since 2002, 16 basketball players from Lithuania have participated in the final four of the Euroleague until this season, if we do not include the author of the magical 2018 journey of Kaunas “Žalgiris” to this list.

The squad of Lithuanian players will be filled with two debutants in Berlin, the capital of Germany, in two weeks. These are 30-year-old 198-cm-tall representative of Athens “Panathinaikos” Marius Grigonis and 25-year-old 201-cm-tall Ignas Brazdeikis, who watched the victories of Piraeus “Olympiakos” in the quarterfinals from the bench.

Iggy, who left Kaunas “Žalgiris” for a ransom last September, appeared on the floor in the playoff series only in the first match at the “Palau Blaugrana” arena, when he scored 2 points in less than 8 minutes.

M.Grigonis, who fulfilled his childhood dream after two difficult seasons in Moscow and Athens, also faded in the series against Tel Aviv “Maccabi” due to his clumsy personal rival Bonzie Colson – he recorded 4.6 points in an average of 14 minutes in the five-match series.

Among the four strongest Euroleague clubs, we will again see the team led by Šarūnas Jasikevičius. This will be the fourth in a row and the fifth in seven years as a head coach of Shaar’s attempt to triumph in the final four of the strongest tournament on the Old Continent.

In 2018, Š. Jasikevičius sensationally triumphed in the quarter-finals with “Žalgiris” Kaunas, in the previous three seasons he won this step with “Barcelona”, and now he has also done it with “Fenerbahçe” in Istanbul, where he is assisted by another Lithuanian assistant Tomas Masiulis.

Shar, who took over the helm of the Turkish giants in mid-December, lifted this team from 12th position to the final four.

“Yellows, get ready for Berlin!” said Š. Jasikevičius, whose former workplace, Barcelona, ​​finished their way to the title in the quarterfinals after the historic victory of “Fenerbahçe” in the fifth match of the series in the Principality of Monaco.

For comparison, apart from Shar, only one specialist from Lithuania has worked in the final four. This is Jonas Kazlauskas, whose title was snatched from the hands of Olympiakos of Piraeus at the last moment in 2012 by CSKA Moscow.

J. Kazlauskas was also in the final four in 1999 in Munich, when he won the first and only EuroLeague title with “Žalgiris” Kaunas, and “Žalgiris” led by Vladas Garast also competed for this trophy in the final in 1986. However, these two achievements took place even before the era of the modern Euroleague.

Eriko Ovčarenko/BNS photo/Jonas Kazlauskas

15 minutes presents Lithuanian records in the history of the EuroLeague final fours, in which the achievements of Š. Jasikevičius are simply incredible and very difficult to repeat.