by iamamac on Sat Dec 19, 2009 12:36 pm
Current Lithuanian roster:
Jersey number and player:
- 1: Vidas Ginevicius
- 2: Donatas Motiejunas
- 3: Andrius Slezas
- 4: Rimantas Kaukenas
- 5: Mantas Kalnietis
- 6: Jonas Maciulis
- 7: Darjus Lavrinovic
- 8: Mindaugas Lukauskis
- 9: Tomas Delininkaitis
- 10: Simas Jasaitis
- 11: Linas Kleiza
- 12: Ksystof Lavrinovic
- 13: Sarunas Jasikevicius
- 14: Marijonas Petravicius
- 15: Robertas Javtokas
- 21: Arturas Jomantas
- 31: Martynas Gecevicius
- 00: Martynas Pocius
Lithuania tops Italy
August 1, 2010
Vilnius, Lithuania -- visitors Italy came short of defeating the Lithuanians. Lithuanians with the result 85:80 (18:19, 23:20, 19:25, 25:16) topped the Italian team. Lithuanians were excellent both offensively and defensively, but Italy also had a lot of confidence and skill offensively. They showed Lithuanians that they still retained their offensive skills from few years ago when they won the silver medal in the Olympics, defeating Lithuania 91:100 in the semifinals. Both teams were decent in three-point shooting; Lithuania shot 5 of 16, while Italy shot 7 of 17.
The starting lineup for Lithuania was Mantas Kalnietis, Martynas Gecevicius, Linas Kleiza, Paulius Jankunas and Robertas Javtokas. The starting lineup for Italy was Giuseppe Poeta, Marco Belinelli, Matteo Soragna, Angelo Gigli and Andrea Bargnani.
The Italians started off the game with Belinelli's unexpected 3-pointer. Lithuanians answered with a jumpshot from Jankunas. As the two teams viciously battled for boards, the score stopped growing. Finally, Gigli woke the two teams with a lay-up. Battle continued for 4 minutes, with Italy ahead by a few points. Finally, Kleiza's dunk with a foul gave the lead to the home team (12:11). However, Italy soon counterattacked with Bargnani's dunk on a fast break. Italians continued with their fluid offensive skills to force Lithuania into a one-point deficit at the end of the first quarter (18:19).
The beginning of second quarter turned out to be a disaster for Lithuania. After Lithuania made few careless passes that resulted in turnovers, Italy's lead grew exponentially. Bargnani showed off his wide open 20-foot jumper, Soragna made 2 consecutive layups and the Kemzura was forced to take a timeout before the game got out of control (27:18).
Guiseppe Poeta infuriated Lithuanian fans when he forced their team to a double-digit deficit with his uncontested 3-pointer from half court. This play, however, was too much for Lithuania: Jonas Maciulis answered with his own accurate shot from behind the arc and Kleiza slammed the ball on a fast break. After couple of shots from the Lithuanians and Andriuskevicius' accurate free-throws, Italy's lead was reduced to 4 points (30:34).
With 3 minutes left of the quarter, Italian Mancinelli was called for a technical foul for standing in the restricted area. Lithuania took advantage of this moment, capturing a small lead, which was kept till the buzzer sounded (41:39).
After halftime break, both teams returned to court. Both teams engaged in a sequence of runs and guns for 5 minutes, neither team gaining a significant lead. Freeing from the tough Lithuanian defense, Belinelli finally hits a fadeaway 2-pointer that increases Italy's lead to 5 points. Italy's offense stops there for few minutes, until Mordente takes initiative and makes 3 jump shots in a row. Lithuania responds with 2 free-throws from Delininkaitis, but on the next possession, Soragna drives past 3 Lithuanians for an uncontested layup, making Kemzura even angrier as he takes a timeout (53:62).
Lithuanians try to cut down the lead by a few points towards the end of the quarter and succeed - the buzzer signals a small Italian lead (60:64).
The last quarter was a dramatic one. Both teams fought on the floor, for boards and points alike. Towards the end of the quarter, Jasaitis opens up his point account with an important 3-pointer which gives the home team a 1 point advantage. At this point of the game, however, the starters of Italy national team were exhausted from fighting on court, and their accuracy wavered. The Lithuanians took advantage of this fact to gain a small lead that carried to the end of the fourth quarter (81:78).
Italians tried desperately to level with their opponents, but failed after a series of shots rimmed out; Lithuanians secured their lead and won the game (85:80).
Results:
Lithuania: Jonas Maciulis - 16 points (4 rebounds, 2 steals); Linas Kleiza - 12 points (5 rebounds); Paulius Jankunas - 12 points (5 rebounds) ; Martynas Pocius (4 assists) and Mantas Kalnietis (4 assists, 2 steals) - 9 points; Robertas Javtokas (6 rebounds) and Tomas Delininkaitis - 6 points; Martynas Gecevicius - 5 points; Martynas Andriuskevicius - 4 points; Simas Jasaitis and Arvydas Eitutavicius - 3 points. Mindaugas Lukauskis didn't score any points.
Italy: Andrea Bargnani - 20 points (8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks); Marco Belinelli - 15 points (4 assists); Matteo Soragna - 9 points (4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals); Giuseppe Poeta and Marco Mordente - 8 points; Stefano Mancinelli (6 rebounds) and Angelo Gigli - 6 points, Luca Vitali - 4 points, Luigi Datome and Jacopo Giachetti - 2 points. Marco Cusin didn't score any points.
Statistics:
Two-pointers
Lithuania: 30/51 (58.8%), Italy: 24/49 (49.0%)
Three-pointers
Lithuania: 5/16 (31.3%), Italy: 7/17 (41.2%)
Free-throws
Lithuania: 10/12 (83.3%), Italy: 11/14 (78.6%)
Rebounds
Lithuania: 28, Italy: 26
Assists
Lithuania: 11, Italy: 13
Steals
Lithuania: 6, Italy: 4
Blocks
Lithuania: 1, Italy: 3
Turnovers
Lithuania: 12, Italy: 11
Personal fouls
Lithuania: 14, Italy: 9
Lithuania thrashes Greece
August 20, 2010
Istanbul, Turkey -- the Greeks proved powerless against the Lithuanians. Lithuanians with the result 77:63 (21:11, 17:21, 21:13, 18:18) embarrassed their counterparts from Greece. Lithuanians dominated offensively, hitting 8 from 19 from down-town. The Greeks were off from behind the arc, hitting only 2 of 13 shots. Later in the game, the Lithuanians broke down the Greek defense and made fast breaks to the basket for easy points. Their defense seems to get better and better after each match. Meanwhile, the Greeks had a tough time stopping the Lithuanians from scoring. Their defense didn't seem to work, there wasn't a lot of communication, and towards the end of the game, they became slightly annoyed and tried to end the game as soon as possible, but of course, that didn't help their game.
The starting lineup for Lithuania was Mantas Kalnietis, Mindaugas Lukauskis, Simas Jasaitis, Linas Kleiza and Robertas Javtokas. The starting lineup for Greece was Vassilis Spanoulis, Dimitris Diamantidis, Efstratios Peperglou, Antonis Fotsis and Ioannis Bourousis.
The first point was made by Kleiza, who flew past the Greek defense for a layup. Kalnietis and Javtokas both showed their range by hitting few difficult shots and the Lithuanians went ahead (7:0). After a minute's timeout by Greek coach Jonas Kazlauskas, Spanoulis jump-started the Greeks with a long-range bomb. Diamantidis followed-up with a jumpshot, but Jasaitis answered with a layup on the other end.
The Greeks then began a series of inaccurate long-range jumpers and Lithuania's score shot up after Kleiza's triple and Delininkaitis' free-throws (14:7). Peperglou finally made an off-balanced shot, but Javtokas opened up his point account after banging the ball from under the glass. After a few more unsuccessful attempts by the Greeks, the Lithuanians were comfortably in the lead to end the first quarter (21:11).
Spanoulis' layup with a foul started off the second quarter, and for a few moments, Lithuania's offense seemed to jam as they began making turnovers at each possession. The Greeks took this opportunity to reduce deficit to 2 points halfway through the quarter (25:23). After a minute's break, Lithuanian offense slightly improved, with Jasaitis and Jankunas' shots meeting their goals. The Greeks, however, didn't let the opponents get away and clung on to the small deficit, as Diamantidis and Fotsis kept draining jumpshots. The teams left the court with Lithuanians still in the lead (38:32).
When the third quarter commenced, no shots made it to the basket for the first 3 minutes. Finally, Mantas Kalnietis took the initiative to score the first points in the quarter. Immediately, the Greek offense was galvanized, with Spanoulis shaking off his defender and creating his own shot and Peperglou hitting a beautiful three-pointer. Lithuanians responded with Maciulis' 2 consecutive shots and Kleiza's rim-rocking dunk (46:39).
Even after a minute's timeout, Lithuanians continued to attack the basket aggressively, beating down the Greek defense. Javtokas and Jankunas made some big defensive plays, like rejecting Fotsis' layup and tipping off Calathes' pass. With two minutes left of the quarter, Greece's deficit reached double-digit numbers (55:43). Just before the end of the quarter, Spanoulis fell on his arm and was forced to the bench. Without him, the Lithuanians secured their lead (59:45).
During the crucial quarter, Spanoulis came back on court and showed his wrath. Despite a bruised hand, his accuracy didn't waver and he hit a few more jumpers to raise the hopes of Greek fans (51:59). But the Lithuanian coach Kemzura sent out all the starters to play for the rest of the quarter and they had no mercy on the Greeks, completely disintegrating their defense. After Jasaitis' and Kalnietis' wide open triples, Kleiza added another dunk to his account and drew a foul (68:53).
Even the loss of main point guard Kalnietis to foul trouble didn't stop Lithuanians from getting to the rim; they were already on fire. The Greeks, overwhelmed with such strong offensive plays and pure bad luck in offense, began taking out their frustration on Lithuanian players by fouling them. With few minutes left of the game, they simply gave up and the Lithuanians celebrated the victory (77:63).
Results:
Lithuania: Linas Kleiza - 18 points (7 rebounds); Mantas Kalnietis - 14 points (4 assists); Simas Jasaitis - 11 points (4 rebounds) ; Robertas Javtokas - 9 points (4 rebounds); Paulius Jankunas - 6 points (4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal); Martynas Andriuskevicius (4 rebounds), Jonas Maciulis and Tomas Delininkaitis - 4 points; Martynas Gecevicius - 3 points; Mindaugas Lukauskis and Martynas Pocius - 2 points. Arvydas Eitutavicius didn't score any points, but made 4 assists.
Greece: Vassilis Spanoulis - 21 points (5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals); Dimitris Diamantidis - 14 points; Antonis Fotsis and Efstratios Peperglou - 9 points (7 rebounds); Ioannis Bourousis - 4 points (5 rebounds); Nicholas Calathes (2 assists), Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Giorgios Printezis - 2 points. Kosta Koufos, Kostas Tsartsaris, Ioannis Kalampokis and Nikolaos Zisis didn't score any points.
Statistics:
Two-pointers
Lithuania: 23/38 (60.5%), Greece: 24/50 (48.0%)
Three-pointers
Lithuania: 8/19 (42.1%), Greece: 2/13 (15.4%)
Free-throws
Lithuania: 7/10 (70.0%), Greece: 9/11 (81.8%)
Rebounds
Lithuania: 31, Greece: 27
Assists
Lithuania: 19, Greece: 8
Steals
Lithuania: 5, Greece: 5
Blocks
Lithuania: 4, Greece: 1
Turnovers
Lithuania: 10, Greece: 10
Personal fouls
Lithuania: 11, Greece: 8
Despite a good start, Lithuania falls to USA
Lithuania lost its first friendly game to Team USA 78:96 (24:20, 13:22, 18:27, 23:27). Lithuanians couldn't match the speed or athleticism of Team USA, though their offense was pretty decent during the first quarter.
The starting lineup for Lithuania was Mantas Kalnietis, Rimantas Kaukenas, Linas Kleiza, Ksystof Lavrinovic and Robertas Javtokas. The starting lineup for Americans was Rajon Rondo, Monta Ellis, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard.
United States players, having little experience playing under FIBA rules, started off poorly, while Lithuanian players drained first few jump shots. After two minutes of confusion, USA's offense woke up when Kevin Durant hit from behind the arc (4:3). Lithuanians continued playing, calmly and with concentration, while USA unsuccessfully kept trying to gain advantage. After Rimantas Kaukenas' three-pointer, Lithuanians had a solid lead (17:10).
After a minute's timeout taken by Krzyzewski, USA began a series of long-range bombs and were dangerously creeping behind Lithuania (19:17). However, Mantas Kalnietis' quickness was no match for Derrick Rose, who later got caught up in a pick set by Javtokas. After a turnover by Lamar Odom, Martynas Pocius took advantage and had a three-point play, which raised USA's deficit to 6 points. The first quarter ended by a last-minute jump shot from Rudy Gay (24:20).
Starting out the second quarter, Linas Kleiza hit a difficult shot from downtown, but Monta Ellis answered with a triple of his own. Soon, a battle in the low post ensued, resulting in Ksystof Lavrinovic being forced out of the game due to an injury. Next, Lithuania had a few miscommunications defensively, and USA quickly took advantage, tying the score (31:31).
Tough battle continued. Lithuania's Jonas Maciulis made a remarkable lay-up against Blake Griffin, but USA finally gained advantage after Kevin Durant's putback dunk with a foul. Kevin Durant continued to extend the lead by a fadeaway jumper in traffic and passing to teammate Deron Williams for an uncontested triple. Team USA established a small lead at halftime (37:42).
After a 15 minute break, USA started off with a 8:0 run that forced Lithuanian coach Kestutis Kemzura to take an early timeout. However, USA played heavy defense on Lithuania, rejecting nearly all shots attempted. USA continued extending the lead, and with 5 minutes into the quarter, they were up by 15 (41:56).
Lithuania finally woke up offensively and began making a slow comeback. Tomas Delininkaitis', Martynas Pocius' and Linas Kleiza's triples in a row cut the lead down to 12 points late in the third quarter (50:62), but USA used athleticism and quickness to get to the basket and draw fouls on the way. At the end of the third quarter, Lithuania was faced with a solid double-digit deficit (55:71).
At the commencement of the final quarter, Lithuania made a few huge plays to cut down the deficit down to single digits in just 4 minutes. Mantas Kalnietis' spectacular dunk against Dwight Howard raised the hopes of many Lithuanian fans (64:73). However, Team USA began a series of painful uncontested shots made on fast breaks that quickly brought Lithuania back to a double digit deficit. Coach Kemzura held the original Lithuanian starters for nearly the rest of the fourth quarter, and Team USA took advantage of the exhausted players by finishing to the rim without any defensive pressure from Lithuania. With two minutes left of the game, Team USA already had a 21-point lead, the largest of the night (69:90).
After a timeout by furious Coach Kemzura with a minute and half left of the game, Team USA relaxed their defense a little, and played the last minutes of the game without putting much effort. Lithuanians, knowing they had lost the game, also relaxed and brought out the benchwarmers. Team USA held on to their lead till the buzzer sounded and won the game 78:96.
Results:
Lithuania:
USA: Kevin Durant - 23 points (5 rebounds, 3 steals); Blake Griffin - 15 points (7 rebounds); Monta Ellis - 12 points (2 steals); Rudy Gay - 10 points (3 assists); Dwight Howard (9 rebounds) and Eric Gordon - 9 points; Deron Williams - 7 points (3 assits); Lamar Odom and Derrick Rose (3 assists) - 4 points; Rajon Rondo - 3 points (5 assists).
...
