The London Lions EuroCup campaign ends with a whimper as they fall to Lietkabelis Panevezys 66-58. On a frustrating night, the Lions’ problems in Europe all reared their heads at once.

A lively crowd of 3,200, bolstered by a small but vocal Lietkabelis contingent, made for a good atmosphere inside the Copper Box. Unfortunately, the game didn’t live up to the hype.

Where to start? The most glaring issue once again was outside shooting. As a team, the Lions shot 3/24 from the arc. This is not a typo. 3/24!!! If Lukosiunas isn’t firing, and he certainly wasn’t here, the Lions don’t have an active plus shooter on the roster.

This is why (and I know he was probably too expensive), I wanted London to go after Matt Thomas when he left Spain. Mr 99% is shooting 45% from long distance this season between Spain, Turkey, and EuroCup, and a sniper of his calibre would’ve been a godsend. Alas, Besiktas swooped in and got his signature.

Next up, our lack of size again killed us on the boards. Outrebounded 47-30, London could not keep the Lithuanians off the glass. Ethan Price, London’s lone big man and lone bright spot to be fair, couldn’t handle Fardaws Aimaq or Gabrielius Maldunas, with the Lietkabelis big men combining for 24 rebounds (11 offensive!). The young Brit gave it his best effort, but as the only Lion over 6″7, he was outgunned.

Aimaq was sporting the worst haircut in all of EuroCup (Dwayne Schintzius would have blushed). He was a nightmare to deal with, rampaging through opponents like he was Stone Cold Steve Austin, clearing out The Alliance.

Tonight’s showing only serves to highlight how baffling it was to make two midseason signings and have them both be wing players. Whilst Brown Jr. looks like a keeper, Hawkins looks lost out there. He’s trying to be deferential, but this deference means he’s unable to bring the scoring punch he was brought in to provide.

Secondary unit failed to step up… again!

The reserves again failed to contribute much, scoring only 10 points (eight of which were from a visibly frustrated Deane Williams). Aaryn Rai had only two points in 19 minutes and was a -15. Adamu and Soluade combined for 22 minutes and zero points.

Lions’ vaunted depth doesn’t seem to translate at this level. This, of course, comes with the huge caveat that London has been missing two of their top scorers for an extended period.

There seemed to be a strange disconnect between the guards and Coach Sabonis. He was calling out plays, only for Shavar Reynolds Jr. and Tarik Phillip to dribble around for a while before going one-on-one, no easy task against the inside presence of Lietkabelis.

The Lions’ EuroCup campaign has fizzled out, and they’ll be left wondering what a healthier squad and better fourth-quarter execution could’ve led to. Change will undoubtedly be coming next year, as our Tesonet overlords clearly have big plans for London. Until then, it’s time to focus on the domestic quad and the pursuit of a clean sweep of the silverware.

One silver lining in this cloud of an article… Joel Scott is back in uniform and ready to wreak havoc on the SLB!