Juventus

Utenos Juventus (23-13) finished the regular season in 4th place in the standings, narrowly trailing Panevėžys Lietkabelis in 3rd place. This season, it is quite evident that the top four teams are a head above the other four teams that made it to the playoffs, as demonstrated by the win-loss ratio (14-22) of Prienai CBet in 5th place.

The Juventus team had issues with injuries during the season, and the situation was further complicated by COVID-19. However, Juventus finished the regular season dominantly: defeating Dzūkija 97-86, thrashing Šiauliai 112-94, and overcoming tomorrow's opponents, CBet players, 108-94. From the results of these recent matches, it becomes clear that the Utena team increasingly focused on offense and fast breaks rather than defense as the season progressed, leading to such high-scoring performances. Utena has many players with top-level experience, who individually are some of the best in their positions in the entire LKL.

The Juventus front line (Kupšas, Čepukauskas, Skučas) is a tough puzzle for most LKL teams, especially for Prienai CBet, whose front line is the team's weak link. With Vaidas Kariniauskas out of the lineup, Aurimas Urbonas shone for Juventus, and Bryan Crawford has also returned and already warmed up. Considering that Ignas Vaitkus, Martynas Gecevičius, and Marius Runkauskas will also appear in the lineup, Juventus looks like the clear favorites of the series.

CBet

Prienai CBet (14-22) finished the regular season in the highest position in recent years, but in the last few weeks, the team's performance was truly disappointing: several crushing defeats were suffered, and only 3 wins were achieved in the last 9 matches played.

The leaders of Prienai: E. Lecomte and D. Domarkas are guards who base their game on drives and three-point shots, and drives against the strong Juventus front line will certainly be challenging. It's hard to imagine how Einaras Tubutis will hold up against Mindaugas Kupšas, who has simply dominated this season. Undoubtedly, the first thing Prienai will need to do to win is to limit Juventus' fast game, avoid childish mistakes, and value the ball. Prienai CBet is one of the most error-prone teams in the LKL, and in the series against Juventus, every mistake could be crucial.

Speaking about the CBet team, it is important to highlight the contribution of head coach Mantas Šernius to this team – considered one of the best strategists in the LKL, Šernius led potentially one of the weakest LKL teams to the playoffs, so it will be very interesting to see how the coach manages to prepare and motivate the young team for the most important battles of the season.

Prediction

Utenos Juventus met Prienai CBet 4 times this season and won all 4 times. Both in terms of rosters and the teams' current form, it is quite evident that Utenos Juventus is “on a roll” and it will be very difficult for CBet to stop them. More experienced, individually stronger, and having maintained the core of the team for several seasons, Juventus should easily win the first game of the series at home.