Jul 24, 2009, 9:42 pm
It's a bit late to start a thread as it's only semi-finals and final remaining but I must share my emotions about quarter-finals after watching Lithuania - Italy game live.
First of all I should mention that our team won silver in previous championship. This year they declared that they are going for gold this time. That's a bit unusual from Lithuanian teams to make such comments ahead of any competition. Though they didn't really look like a potential winners during the games played until quarter-finals. So it looked like they will turn on the upper gear when the important games start.
But that wasn't the case. Donatas Motiejunas gave an interview to FIBA before the quarter-finals claiming that he won't play for youth teams any more (supposedly he is too good for that). What we saw on the court today? Italy started well making an impressive 11-3 run. It must be noted that they have a small squad and try to play fast taking many three-point shots. So it was clear that Lithuania will try to play through their big men especially as they have such talent as Motiejunas. There was no such thing in the first half. We caught Italians and eventually took the lead 25-18 after the first quarter. The whole game had many ups and downs by both team but in the end Lithuanians had the control. We had quite comfortable 14-point lead before the final period. But we lost hopelessly 7-22. Italians hit a three-pointer with 10s left to play to take the lead. Last attack by Lithuania was a total failure.
Some things that are worth to be mentioned. Coaching was very questionable. When Italians started their spurt in the 4th quarter our coach did nothing. The only time out he took was after their three pointer with 10s till the final buzzer! The players could barely get past the middle of the court. They were totally lost. Italians defended very well plus our players were making unforced mistakes.
Motiejunas is not a center and he doesn't like to play in that position - that's my impression after today's game. He grabbed just 4 rebounds throughout the game when he had no serious opponent guarding him (especially in terms of height). He doesn't know how to take a position for a rebound either. He doesn't play under the basket and is running around the free-throw line instead. After seeing him play you would never believe that he averaged over 20 points per game in LKL! This was very funny after his comments and I dare to say arrogance too.
I doubt there are any teams in the competition that has point guards that have played in Euroleague. We did. Janavicius looked so confident about his skills, actually over confident, that to every shot that he scored he responded with a turnover. He made 6 of them in total.
Another thing to be noted is that we used 8 players despite having a better team on paper while Italians used the whole squad.
In the end I can say that I was not sad at all to see them lose. A team that considers themselves contenders for gold can't play such pathetic basketball.
Spain 77-60 Turkey
France 68-47 Montenegro
Croatia 68-77 Greece
Lithuania 68-69 Italy
Semi-finals
Spain - Greece
France - Italy
My prediction that this summer will be a disaster to all the national teams of Lithuania appears to be correct. The reason of such prediction is simple. After our teams have a good year they always fail in the next competition. Last time all of our youth teams won medals:
U-20 - silver
U-18 - silver
U-16 - gold
Universiade - gold
Now, it would be normal to expect these teams to fight for medals after such performances, wouldn't it. Especially with the players that they have. They might not necessarily win but getting to the semis for at least some of them is likely. What are the results so far?
U-20 - knocked out in the quarter-finals
U-19 (World Championship) - knocked out before quarter-finals
Universiade - knocked out in the quarter-finals
U-18 - ?
U-16 - ?
Men - ?
First of all I should mention that our team won silver in previous championship. This year they declared that they are going for gold this time. That's a bit unusual from Lithuanian teams to make such comments ahead of any competition. Though they didn't really look like a potential winners during the games played until quarter-finals. So it looked like they will turn on the upper gear when the important games start.
But that wasn't the case. Donatas Motiejunas gave an interview to FIBA before the quarter-finals claiming that he won't play for youth teams any more (supposedly he is too good for that). What we saw on the court today? Italy started well making an impressive 11-3 run. It must be noted that they have a small squad and try to play fast taking many three-point shots. So it was clear that Lithuania will try to play through their big men especially as they have such talent as Motiejunas. There was no such thing in the first half. We caught Italians and eventually took the lead 25-18 after the first quarter. The whole game had many ups and downs by both team but in the end Lithuanians had the control. We had quite comfortable 14-point lead before the final period. But we lost hopelessly 7-22. Italians hit a three-pointer with 10s left to play to take the lead. Last attack by Lithuania was a total failure.
Some things that are worth to be mentioned. Coaching was very questionable. When Italians started their spurt in the 4th quarter our coach did nothing. The only time out he took was after their three pointer with 10s till the final buzzer! The players could barely get past the middle of the court. They were totally lost. Italians defended very well plus our players were making unforced mistakes.
Motiejunas is not a center and he doesn't like to play in that position - that's my impression after today's game. He grabbed just 4 rebounds throughout the game when he had no serious opponent guarding him (especially in terms of height). He doesn't know how to take a position for a rebound either. He doesn't play under the basket and is running around the free-throw line instead. After seeing him play you would never believe that he averaged over 20 points per game in LKL! This was very funny after his comments and I dare to say arrogance too.
I doubt there are any teams in the competition that has point guards that have played in Euroleague. We did. Janavicius looked so confident about his skills, actually over confident, that to every shot that he scored he responded with a turnover. He made 6 of them in total.
Another thing to be noted is that we used 8 players despite having a better team on paper while Italians used the whole squad.
In the end I can say that I was not sad at all to see them lose. A team that considers themselves contenders for gold can't play such pathetic basketball.
Spain 77-60 Turkey
France 68-47 Montenegro
Croatia 68-77 Greece
Lithuania 68-69 Italy
Semi-finals
Spain - Greece
France - Italy
My prediction that this summer will be a disaster to all the national teams of Lithuania appears to be correct. The reason of such prediction is simple. After our teams have a good year they always fail in the next competition. Last time all of our youth teams won medals:
U-20 - silver
U-18 - silver
U-16 - gold
Universiade - gold
Now, it would be normal to expect these teams to fight for medals after such performances, wouldn't it. Especially with the players that they have. They might not necessarily win but getting to the semis for at least some of them is likely. What are the results so far?
U-20 - knocked out in the quarter-finals
U-19 (World Championship) - knocked out before quarter-finals
Universiade - knocked out in the quarter-finals
U-18 - ?
U-16 - ?
Men - ?