BC Neptūnas


Basketball Club Neptūnas, commonly known as Neptūnas or Neptūnas Klaipėda, is a Lithuanian professional basketball club based in Klaipėda, Lithuania. The club participates in the Lithuanian Basketball League. It was founded in 1962 under the name BC Maistas and in 1964, BC Maistas's name was changed to BC Neptūnas. The club carries the name of the Roman sea god Neptune. Neptūnas participated in the 2014–15 EuroLeague season and is only the third Lithuanian club to participate in the premier European basketball league, after Žalgiris and Rytas.

History

First steps (1962–1993)

In 1966 Neptūnas won the Žalgiris friendship championship and next year with the same roster became runners-up.
Since 1970 there have been many changes in the team: coaches and players left the team and were replaced with new team members, so the team did not achieve better results. In 1975 Klaipėda's community decided to change the team from its foundations based on people from Klaipėda and the Samogitia region, who also finished studies in the cities of Vilnius and Kaunas. There were young and prospective players, whose energy helped to reach better results in a period of two years, including 3rd place in Lithuanian Spartakiada; in 1981 and 1982 they became runners-up of newspaper Sport's championship, and also in 1983 they became champions of the Soviet Union Professional Union championship.

Difficult start in the LKL (1993–1998)

The Lithuanian Basketball Association was founded in 1993, when eight of the strongest Lithuanian basketball clubs' officials met with the representatives of the Šarūnas Marčiulionis basketball fund. Neptūnas was among that eight. This association would soon announce their basketball league that would start in the upcoming fall.
During the founding 1993–1994 LKL season, Neptūnas finished last, reaching only 4 victories per 36 games, despite the tireless efforts shown by Gintautas Bendžius, who averaged almost 20 points per game and was the third best scorer in the whole league. In the following season Neptūnas slightly improved, reaching 10 victories and suffering 30 defeats, with the help of a 21-year-old native Eurelijus Žukauskas, who quickly started becoming the star of the team and later was even nicknamed the "Lithuanian king of blocks".
In the 1995–1996 LKL season, Neptūnas progressed even further. With Svajūnas Airošius, Aloyzas Vasiliūnas, and Artūras Jakubauskas averaging double-digits in points and Eurelijus Žukauskas often adding solid double-doubles, the team qualified into the LKL playoffs for the first time with 17 victories as the 7th seed. But they were eliminated by the Lithuanian powerhouse Žalgiris Kaunas 0–2, after failing to guard the Lithuanian star and Olympic champion Rimas Kurtinaitis, who averaged 25.5 points over these games.
Neptūnas continued to show progress in the 1996–1997 season, qualifying for the LKL playoffs again by accomplishing a solid 19–17 record, the first with over 50% victories ratio in the club's LKL history. Despite losing the first series game versus BC Šiauliai 80–69, on April 4, 1997, Neptūnas achieved their first-ever victory in the LKL playoffs in a dominating fashion 88–60. Yet after Šiauliai's 88–73 revenge two days later, the series was lost 1–2. It was the last game for Eurelijus Žukauskas in a Neptūnas jersey, who, after averaging 15.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.1 blocks, joined Žalgiris and soon became a EuroLeague champion and a multiple medalist with the Lithuania men's national basketball team. Another Neptūnas leader Artūras Jakubauskas left the team as well.
Following the loss of two long-term leaders, the team failed to compete with the same form during the 1997–1998 LKL season. Neptūnas finished as the 8th seed during the regular season with a 6–12 record, but after an unsuccessful second round they finished just 9th among 10 teams. The only consolation of the season was notable progress demonstrated by an 18-year-old Arvydas Macijauskas, who would later become one of the primary faces of Lithuanian basketball.

Participation in the Korać Cup (1998–2000)

The 1998–1999 season was remarkably different as on October 6, 1998, Neptūnas debuted in the FIBA Korać Cup, their first European tournament during a game versus the Espoon Honka, which they lost 93–73. But afterwards the team, led by Svajūnas Airošius, Arūnas Seferis and Arvydas Macijauskas, finished with a 4–2 record, claimed the second place in the group and advanced into the sixteenth-finals. They were stopped at that stage by Darüşşafaka, losing the series 0–2. Neptūnas also returned to the LKL playoffs that season after finishing 5th during the regular season. They were eliminated by BC Šiauliai yet again, this time 1–2. After the season, Arvydas Macijauskas signed with the Lietuvos rytas Vilnius.
During the 1999–2000 FIBA Korać Cup season, Neptūnas had less fortune than in the previous year. They were drawn into the group H, finished with just a 1–5 record, and after taking the 3rd spot in the group did not advance further. In the LKL, Neptūnas finished 8th and failed to challenge Žalgiris Kaunas in the first round of LKL playoffs, losing the series 0–2 with an average of 30 points difference.

First sparks in the LKL playoffs (2000–2012)

After the 1999–2000 season, Neptūnas became a constant LKL playoffs participant, though at first they were unable to overcome the quarter-finals barrier. During the 2000–2001 LKL season, Neptūnas, led by one of the LKL's best scorer and playmaker Vidas Ginevičius, finished in a desired 3rd seed during the regular season, but was shockingly eliminated 0–2 by the Alita Alytus in the quarter-final. During the following 2001–2002 LKL season, Neptūnas triumphed just 10 times per 32 games, but that was enough to qualify for the LKL playoffs as the 8th seed, although they were quickly wiped out 0–2 by an uprising Lithuanian powerhouse Lietuvos rytas Vilnius, led by young and hungry Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Robertas Javtokas, Simas Jasaitis, Rimantas Kaukėnas and a former Neptūnas player Arvydas Macijauskas. The 2002–2003 LKL season was only slightly different; this time the Neptūnas squad finished 6th in the regular season, but yet again was smashed 0–2 in the quarter-final by BC Šiauliai, in spite of all of Tomas Delininkaitis's efforts. In the 2003–2004 season, Neptūnas reached the all-time bottom by winning just 6 times per 36 games and finishing last in the league, including an absolutely disastrous 22 game losing streak.
The 2004–2005 season was a bit more positive page in the club's history. During it, Neptūnas finished 4th during the regular LKL season and advanced to the TOP 5 teams of the league group, however Neptūnas was once again eliminated by BC Šiauliai in the knockout stage 1–2 and finished 5th in the final rankings. During the 2005 LKL All-Star Day, Petras Šalvis won the club's third LKL Three-point Shootout title. The team also participated in the Baltic Basketball League Elite Division for the first time as well, finishing 5th. Neptūnas slightly regressed again in the following 2005–2006 season, finishing 6th during the regular LKL season and, as previously, lost the first round of the LKL playoffs to BC Šiauliai 0–2 and finished only 10th in the BBL, with the only consolations being the club's fourth LKL Three-point Shootout title captured by Marius Kasiulevičius and the club's first-ever LKL Slam Dunk Contest champion title by Antonio Grant.
In the 2006–2007 season, Neptūnas finished 3rd during the regular LKL season for the second time in the club's history. Furthermore, they also finally sailed through the quarter-final stage of the LKL playoffs by overcoming the Nevėžis Kėdainiai 2–0. But Neptūnas' journey was again stopped by Lietuvos rytas at semi-finals 0–2, and Neptūnas qualified for their first historical LKL bronze final. The aspiration for the first-ever LKL medal was crushed by gallingly losing the series 0–3 to BC Šiauliai, with two home games being lost by just three and two points. In BBL, the team finished 2 places lower than in the previous season.
Before the 2007–2008 season, Neptūnas signed with 19-year-old Deividas Gailius, who would soon lead Neptūnas during some of the club's most historic moments. However that season the team did not have much luck on the court. They ended up 5th during the regular LKL season and were once more eliminated in the quarter-final, this time by BC Alytus 1–2. The first series game, which could have made the series completely opposite, was dramatically lost by just three points in Alytus. Moreover, Neptūnas disappointingly finished only 16th in the BBL Elite Division. This was the club's worst and the last appearance in the elite division of the league.
The first part of the 2008–2009 LKL season finished almost identically when the club finished as the 5th seed, however the playoffs were drastically different. Neptūnas overcame the LKL quarter-final for the second time in history, beating Nevėžis 2–1. And after losing the semi-final to Žalgiris 0–2, Neptūnas returned to the bronze final for another try where they yet again faced a long-term rival BC Šiauliai. Despite the militant efforts and the thirst for a long-awaited revenge, the series was lost 2–3 following another dramatic defeat of 73–80 in Šiauliai, with Valdas Vasylius and Arvydas Eitutavičius scoring more than half of the team's points.
In the 2009–2010 LKL season, Neptūnas, led by a future team's manager Osvaldas Kurauskas, clinched the 5th spot during the regular season for a third straight year and was eliminated by the Juventus Utena 0–2 in the quarter-final. The 2010–2011 LKL regular season achieved just one less victory than the previous season, however this resulted in finishing only 8th and facing off the upcoming champions Žalgiris Kaunas in the first round of the playoffs. Regardless of being smashed 61–96 in Kaunas during the first series encounter, the team, led by a captain Martynas Mažeika, mightily fought in their home arena, this time losing only 82–88. Nevertheless, with the Švyturys Arena being built in the city, the historical victories and achievements were yet to come.