2020–21 LKL season

The 2020–21 Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, also called Betsafe-LKL for sponsorship reasons, is the 28th season of the top-tier level professional basketball league of Lithuania, the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL).

Betsafe-LKL
Season	2020–21
Teams	10
Dates	18 September 2020 – 7 May 2021 (Regular season)
Records
Biggest home win	Žalgiris 92–45 Rytas (06 December 2020)
Biggest away win	Nevėžis–OPTIBET 53–108 Žalgiris (06 February 2021)
Highest scoring	Nevėžis–OPTIBET 53–108 Žalgiris (06 February 2021)
All statistics correct as of 06 February 2021.

Competition format

During the regular season, all teams play 36 games. The top eight teams in the regular season standings, after playing their entire 36 game schedule, qualified for the playoffs in the quarterfinals, that was played in a best-of-three games format. The semifinals were played in best-of-three format.

The final round was be played between the two winners of the semifinals. The finals series, for first place, as also games for third place were played in a best-of-five format.

Notable events

• On 30 September 2020, the LKL has reached a historic agreement - LKL will be broadcast in foreign countries for the first time since its establishment.[1]
• On 9 October 2020, the LKL decided that the match between Žalgiris and Nevėžis-Optibet on 11 October 2020 and the match between Juventus and Alytus Dzūkija on 10 October 2020 are postponed.[2]
• On 27 October 2020, the LKL Board has decided how to deal with the spread of COVID-19 infection and how the LKL championship matches will take place. The minimum number of players in a team in order to play a match is 8 players, if there is no such number of players in the team, the match will be suspended and postponed to the next date.[3]

Teams

Location and arenas

Dzūkija

Juventus

Lietkabelis

Neptūnas

Nevėžis

Pieno žvaigždės

Prienai

Rytas

Šiauliai

Žalgiris

Location of teams in 2020-21 LKL

Ten teams were granted licences for the 2020–21 LKL season.[4]

Team	Location	Arena	Capacity
Cbet Prienai	Prienai	Prienai Arena	1,500
Dzūkija	Alytus	Alytus Arena	5,500
Juventus	Utena	Utena Arena	2,000
Lietkabelis	Panevėžys	Cido Arena	5,950
Neptūnas	Klaipėda	Švyturys Arena	6,200
Nevėžis-OPTIBET	Kėdainiai	Kėdainiai Arena	2,200
Pieno žvaigždės	Pasvalys	Pieno žvaigždės Arena	1,500
Rytas	Vilnius	Jeep Arena	2,500
		Avia Solutions Group Arena	10,000
Šiauliai	Šiauliai	Šiauliai Arena	5,700
Žalgiris	Kaunas	Žalgiris Arena	15,708

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced with	Date of appointment
Nevėžis-OPTIBET	Marius Kiltinavičius	Mutual consent	29 November 2020[5]	6th (5–5)	David Gale	7 December 2020[6]
Rytas	Donaldas Kairys	Sacked	16 January 2021[7]	3rd (9–5)	Giedrius Žibėnas	1 February 2021[8]

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification or relegation
1	Žalgiris	17	15	2	1514	1144	+370	Advance to play-offs
2	Rytas	18	13	5	1604	1464	+140
3	Juventus	19	13	6	1656	1622	+34
4	Lietkabelis	18	12	6	1521	1382	+139
5	Pieno žvaigždės	19	8	11	1511	1560	−49
6	Neptūnas	20	8	12	1589	1689	−100
7	Cbet Prienai	20	7	13	1729	1827	−98
8	Nevėžis-OPTIBET	20	6	14	1504	1703	−199
9	Dzūkija	15	5	10	1197	1251	−54
10	Šiauliai	18	5	13	1501	1684	−183	Relegation to NKL

Updated to match(es) played on 09 February 2021. Source: LKL.LT

Results

Home \ Away	CBE	DZU	JUV	LTK	NEP	NEV	PIE	RYT	SIA	ZAL	CBE	DZU	JUV	LTK	NEP	NEV	PIE	RYT	SIA	ZAL
Cbet Prienai	—	81–74	91–105	93–78	99–67	87–85	96–99	80–90	94–87	72–96	—	3 Apr	7 May	70–92	7 Mar	5 May	20 Mar	27 Feb	17 Apr	28 Apr
Dzūkija	91–77	—	82–97	86–70	63–71	80–74	76–84	80–90	12 Feb	62–95	25 Apr	—	76–92	14 Mar	29 Apr	20 Mar	5 May	6 Mar	10 Apr	14 Apr
Juventus	89–84	106–98	—	76–78	85–84	83–76	89–75	79–100	96–82	90–87	10 Feb	1 May	—	20 Mar	30 Jan	18 Apr	10 Apr	24 Apr	5 Apr	7 Mar
Lietkabelis	84–87	24 Feb	100–79	—	87–82	98–69	84–60	78–59	101–76	77–82	10 Apr	7 May	28 Apr	—	28 Mar	6 Mar	18 Apr	21 Apr	108–105	5 Apr
Neptūnas	92–69	84–81	88–97	80–90	—	76–70	80–74	60–98	88–94	74–104	22 Apr	81–64	14 Apr	1 May	—	3 Apr	99–93	13 Mar	7 May	18 Apr
Nevėžis	92–88	78–82	70–87	76–70	79–76	—	58–81	100–94	96–77	47–78	13 Mar	21 Apr	28 Feb	24 Apr	11 Apr	—	64–89	7 May	27 Mar	53–108
Pieno žvaigždės	104–89	3 Mar	69–79	63–82	73–77	72–82	—	82–79	87–64	67–81	2 May	27 Mar	14 Mar	27 Feb	25 Apr	15 Apr	—	29 Apr	6 Mar	7 May
Rytas	105–81	17 Mar	106–77	78–72	95–83	96–91	106–82	—	107–80	72–84	14 Apr	17 Apr	27 Mar	30 Jan	4 May	10 Feb	3 Apr	—	1 May	21 Mar
Šiauliai	95–86	71–102	92–87	3 Mar	80–74	87–85	80–81	78–86	—	9 Mar	99–105	28 Feb	4 May	13 Apr	21 Mar	28 Apr	22 Apr	85–98	—	25 Apr
Žalgiris	103–100		84–63	61–72	81–59	94–59	95–76	92–45	89–56	—	28 Mar	31 Jan	21 Apr	5 May	28 Feb	2 May		11 Apr	14 Mar	—

Updated to match(es) played on 09 February 2021. Source: LKL.LT
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Lithuanian clubs in European competitions

Team	Competition	Progress
Žalgiris	EuroLeague	Regular season
Lietkabelis	EuroCup	Regular season
Rytas	Champions League	Regular season

Awards

All official awards of the 2020-21 LKL season.

Player of the month

Month	Player	Team	PIR	Source
September	Demetrius Jackson	Rytas	22	[9]
October	Regimantas Miniotas	Cbet Prienai	30.5	[10]
November	Elvar Már Friðriksson	Šiauliai	27	[11]
December	Edgaras Želionis	Pieno žvaigždės	26	[12]
January	Žygimantas Skučas	Juventus	22.7	[13]

Statistics

Rating

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rating	PIR
1.	Elvar Már Friðriksson	Šiauliai	15	309	20.60
2.	Julius Kazakauskas	Nevėžis-OPTIBET	16	289	18.06
3.	Vaidas Kariniauskas	Juventus	18	324	18.00

Source: LKL.LT

Points

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Points	PPG
1.	Sedrick Barefield	Nevėžis–OPTIBET	10	179	17.90
2.	Marquis Wright	Cbet Prienai	18	307	17.06
3.	Vaidas Kariniauskas	Juventus	18	306	17.00

Source: LKL.LT

Rebounds

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rebounds	RPG
1.	Julius Kazakauskas	Nevėžis-OPTIBET	16	135	8.44
2.	Martynas Echodas	Rytas	11	83	7.55
3.	Vaidas Čepukaitis	Juventus	18	114	6.33

Source: LKL.LT

Assists

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Assists	APG
1.	Elvar Már Friðriksson	Šiauliai	15	111	7.40
2.	Kristupas Žemaitis	Dzūkija	12	78	6.50
3.	Vaidas Kariniauskas	Juventus	18	115	6.39

Source: LKL.LT

Other statistics

Category	Player	Team	Games	Average
Steals	Margiris Normantas	Lietkabelis	16	2.31
Blocks	Ignas Lukošius	Nevėžis–OPTIBET	18	1.11
Turnovers	Vaidas Kariniauskas	Juventus	18	4.17
Fouls drawn	Matas Jucikas	Dzūkija	12	3.58
Minutes	Mindaugas Sušinskas	Cbet Prienai	18	32:40
FT %	Marius Grigonis	Žalgiris	12	94.12%
2-Point %	Martinas Geben	Žalgiris	13	73.47%
3-Point %	Andrew Goudelock	Rytas	12	51.72%

Source: LKL.LT

Individual game highs

Category	Player	Team	Statistic	Opponent
Rating	Margiris Normantas	Lietkabelis	41	Juventus (Jan 13, 2021)
Points	Sedrick Barefield	Nevėžis-OPTIBET	29	Rytas (Jan 09, 2021)
Rebounds	Regimantas Miniotas	Cbet Prienai	17	Dzūkija (Oct 25, 2020)
Assists	Elvar Már Friðriksson	Šiauliai	13	Cbet Prienai (Jan 31, 2021)
Steals	Margiris Normantas	Lietkabelis	7	Juventus (Jan 13, 2021)
Blocks	Andy Van Vliet	Šiauliai	4	Nevėžis-OPTIBET (Nov 22, 2020)

References

1. "Historic TV rights agreement: Lithuanian Basketball League will be broadcast abroad". en.lkl.lt. 30 September 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
2. "Betsafe-LKL tvarkaraštyje – pokyčiai dėl COVID-19 atvejo Žalgiryje". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 9 October 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
3. "LKL valdyboje priimti sprendimai dėl čempionato vykdymo tvarkos didėjant COVID-19 infekcija užsikrėtusių žmonių skaičiui". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 27 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
4. "2020–21 LKL sezonui licencijos suteiktos 10 klubu". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 3 August 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
5. "„Nevėžį-Optibet" ir toliau krečia permainos – klubą palieka Kiltinavičius". basketnews.lt (in Lithuanian). 29 November 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
6. "Su Valančiūnu konsultavęsis „Nevėžis" išsirinko naują vyr. trenerį". basketnews.lt. 7 December 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
7. {{"Permainos sostinėje: skiriasi "Ryto" ir D.Kairio keliai". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
8. "„Rytas" apsisprendė dėl vyr. trenerio". basketnews.lt (in Lithuanian). 1 February 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
9. "Mėnesio MVP tapęs D. Jacksonas – "Mano galvoje žodžiui pralaimėjimas vietos nėra"". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 1 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
10. "Spalio mėnesio MVP tapęs R.Miniotas: "Galvoti apie karjeros šuolį dar nesinori"". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 3 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
11. "Lapkričio mėnesio MVP tapęs E. M. Fridrikssonas: "Jaučiu, kad mūsų žaidimas gerėja"". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 30 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
12. "Gruodžio mėnesio MVP E.Želionis "Esame ne ką prastesni už pirmaujančias komandas"". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 6 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
13. "Sausio MVP tapęs Ž. Skučas: „Geras žaidimas prasidėjo tada, kai nustojau galvoti apie krepšinį"". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 4 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.

External links

• LKL website