Lithuania point guard Vaidas Kariniauskas has played his best game of FIBA World Cup so far.
The 29-year-old player, who will be playing for Mazeikiai, a team newly promoted to Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL), scored 15 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and dished out 2 assists in 17 minutes of play, helping Lithuania defeat the Americans (110-104).
In addition to his on-court plays, Kariniauskas went viral with his tongue-out photo after an and-one against Lakers guard Austin Reaves.
Kariniauskas was asked about that moment during the postgame press conference.
“Nothing personal, just love for the game,” he said. “I played with his brother last year, I talked with him before the game, he said ‘Give him a trash talk,’ so I gave it, I think. That’s it, nothing special.”
Kariniauskas is averaging 5.6 points in 14.5 per game. Before the USA game his best performance was against Mexico when he scored 6 points.
