Jul 4, 2012, 2:32 pm
Lithuania got past their trickiest opponent. Definitely not their best opponent but given the circumstances Venezuela is a wild card.
The majority game was much closer than the scoreline showed. First, Linas Kleiza is one of the best FIBA players that I can recall. Why can't he play like this in the NBA? Second, the rest of the team needs to step it up or Lithuania will be exposed against better competition. They played well in the second half but it was after they started to pull away. Third, Songaila played just a couple of minutes but had two huge scrappy baskets when Venezuela was still hanging around. His baskets were the turning point for Lithuania.
Now Greece and Lithuania need to do their jobs and win today. Puerto Rico is a reasonably tough team for Greece and will likely be Lithuania's knockout competition but Greece should be able to get it done. I can't see Nigeria posing much of a threat against Lithuania. They are quite one dimensional running through Ike Diogu and I cannot envision that he will get many looks against Lithuania's bigs.
The majority game was much closer than the scoreline showed. First, Linas Kleiza is one of the best FIBA players that I can recall. Why can't he play like this in the NBA? Second, the rest of the team needs to step it up or Lithuania will be exposed against better competition. They played well in the second half but it was after they started to pull away. Third, Songaila played just a couple of minutes but had two huge scrappy baskets when Venezuela was still hanging around. His baskets were the turning point for Lithuania.
Now Greece and Lithuania need to do their jobs and win today. Puerto Rico is a reasonably tough team for Greece and will likely be Lithuania's knockout competition but Greece should be able to get it done. I can't see Nigeria posing much of a threat against Lithuania. They are quite one dimensional running through Ike Diogu and I cannot envision that he will get many looks against Lithuania's bigs.