Home FIBA EuroBasket 2009 Lithuania shocks Spain in the last warm up game

Lithuania shocks Spain in the last warm up game

LithuaniaWorld champions visited Vilnius to play their last preparation game against Lithuania before heading to Poland. The hosts were beaten heavily by Spain a couple of weeks ago but this time the scenario was totally different.

Andrius Mazutis was injured and Mantas Kalnietis left the team for personal reasons before the game forcing Lithuania to play without a single point guard.

Meanwhile Spain had two losses as well. Pau Gasol did not play even though he started full training with the team. Another NBA player Rudy Fernandez had to miss the game de to an injury. It's yet to be determined for how long he won't be able to play.

Spain played their first warm up game away in a decade. A 4-0 run by World Champs at the start of the game wasn't an indicator of what's going to happen on the court later as Lithuanians scored five unanswered points to take an early lead. The first quarter was pretty close until Jonas Maciulis hit a three-pointer to give his team a five-point lead.

The hosts had a better start in the second quarter as they reached 12-point advantage and the score was 32-20. However Spaniards were not going to let the game slip away. A couple of time outs by the head coach Sergio Scariolo and they were down by just two points. Lithuania up by six at the half time.

Jorge Garbajosa and Linas Kleiza had a small conflict in the third quarter but it had no impact on Lithuania while visitors started arguing with the referees more often. Kleiza was fired up and sent a couple of three-pointer to his opponents' basket. Spanish defence couldn't cope with their tasks as the third quarter ended with Lithuania having 13-point advantage.

Although the gap between the teams was manageable at the beginning of the fourth quarter Lithuanians increased the lead to 19 points which put Spain in a serious trouble. The lead was only growing since then as the hosts had a massive 25-point advantage at one point. The final score 94-72 pleased the home crowd while World Champions left the court immediately avoiding the ceremony when the most valuable players of each team should have been awarded.

94 – Lithuania – (23+23+26+22): Linas Kleiza 19, Tomas Delininkaitis 19, Marijonas Petravičius 14, Kšyštofas Lavrinovičius 10, Jonas Mačiulis 7, Darjušas Lavrinovičius 6, Mindaugas Lukauskis 5, Simas Jasaitis 5, Artūras Jomantas 5, Robertas Javtokas 4.

72 – Spain – (18+22+19+13): Marc Gasol 15, Jorge Garbajosa 13, Ricky Rubio 8, Sergio Llull 8, Raul Lopez 7, Alex Mumbru 6, Juan Carlos Navarro 6, Felipe Reyes 5, Victor Claver 2.

Exit mobile version