Lithuania NT 2008

[TalkBasket]

Pocius had some injury I think and missed bigger part of the season. So I am not sure wether he's ready to make a debut in NT right now.



You are right. I would pick Kaukenas, Saras and Alijevas as the pure guards. Siska can play as SG and PG (as we saw many times in NT) although it's not his natural position. Kleiza can play SG in NBA but he might be too big in international game.



As for Gecevicius, he lacks consitency. He wasn't getting too much playing time in Rytas so it's not so easy to be consistent when you play just few minutes sometimes. But we saw how great he could be when it's his day. Remember his 20 points that gave a win against Zalgiris in LKL finals? If he fits in NT then he could be very useful with his 3-point shooting.



I can't see other serious candidates at the moment.



By the way, does anyone know if friendly games will be live on TV? I was planning to go to Siemens Arena if Ilgas was playing. But I might still go even though the opponents will be pretty weak.

[TalkBasket]

All friendly games of Lithuania NT will be broadcasted live on TV and should be live on the internet too. The first game is next Friday. I will post game times and links <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[TalkBasket]

Friendly game Lithuania vs Belarus live [url="http://http"]here[/url] or [url="http://http"]here[/url] today 17:45 CET (16:45 GMT).

[TalkBasket]

Lithuania 113:57 Belarus



It was an easy walk as expected. Belarus had only 7 players so it was even harder for them.



Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Robertas Javtokas, Darjušas Lavrinovičius, Darius Songaila and Jonas Mačiulis were not registered for the game. Coach Ramūnas Butautas said that on Sunday we will see the main team against Iceland.



Marijonas Petravičius 17, Tomas Delininkaitis 17, Linas Kleiza 16, Kšištofas Lavrinovičius 13, Mindaugas Lukauskis 11, Rimantas Kaukėnas 10.



The squad was cut to 14 players. So now we have:



Robertas Javtokas

Darius Songaila

Ramūnas Šiškauskas

Linas Kleiza

Šarūnas Jasikevičius

Rimantas Kauk?nas

Kšištofas Lavrinovičius

Darjušas Lavrinovičius

Jonas Mačiulis

Simas Jasaitis

Marijonas Petravičius

Marius Prekevičius

Tomas Delininkaitis

Mindaugas Lukauskis

[Rivers7]

Marijonas Petravičius

Marius Prekevičius

Tomas Delininkaitis

Mindaugas Lukauskis

I assume, two of them, will be cut, right ? Too shame, Macas will not participate, due to his injury. It would be a pleasure to watch the big trio ( Macas, Siska, Saras ) again in Lithuania NT. <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[TalkBasket]

[quote name='Rivers']I assume, two of them, will be cut, right ? Too shame, Macas will not participate, due to his injury. It would be a pleasure to watch the big trio ( Macas, Siska, Saras ) again in Lithuania NT. <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />[/quote]

Yeah. It looks like Prekevičius has his place secured already. First of all he's the only point guard besides Saras. Secondly Ramunas Butautas admitted that indirectly when he was speaking about player injuries even before announcing last 14. He said that Prekevicius has an injury and must be saved until Olympics.



Also if Darjus Lavrinovic plays and that's the way it should be, then Petravicius will most likely be cut too. So in the end Butautas will be picking between Delininkaitis and Lukauskis in my opinion.



No doubt seeing Macas, Siska and Saras would be great. Last time they played together in 2004.

[TalkBasket]

Lithuania 115:62 Iceland



Top scorers for Lithuania: Linas Kleiza 16, Ramunas Siskauskas 13, Mindaugas Lukauskis 13, Marijonas Petravicius 12, Sarunas Jasikevicius 11 Ksistof Lavrinovic 11.



Darjus Lavrinovic played a few minutes in the end and hit a 3-pointer and made free-throws. He looked quite good.



Kleiza had two alley-oops set for him but couldn't hold the ball <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[TalkBasket]

Lithuania 105:67 Iceland (26:18, 19:15, 28:17, 32:17)



Lithuania: Robertas Javtokas 15, Ksistof Lavrinovic 15, Linas Kleiza 13, Simas Jasaitis 13, Darius Songaila 11, Ramunas Siskauskas 8, Mindaugas Lukauskis 8, Sarunas Jasikevicius 11 (10 assists) Rimantas Kaukenas 7, Tomas Delininkaitis 5, Jonas Maciulis 3.



Iceland: Logi Gunnarsson 23, Jakob Sigurdarson 14, Sigurdur Thorvaldsson 10, Horqur Axel 5, Pall Axel Vilbergsson 4, Hlynur Bferingsson 4, Magnus Gunnarsson 3, Helgi Magnusson 3, Sigurdur Thorsteinsson 1.

[TalkBasket]

Highlights from the first game against Iceland.



Part 1

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Part2

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Highlights from the second game against Iceland.



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If you are registered on YouTube then I recommend watching it there as you can switch to high quality <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thup:' />

[TalkBasket]

Sarunas Jasikevicius will be carrying the flag in the opening ceremony.

[TalkBasket]

Siskauskas will probably miss a game against Argentina too.



There are more serious concerns. Darius Songaila was tested and it looks like he has spine hernia.

[TalkBasket]

Darius Songaila is out due to an injury. That is really disappointing as he is always useful for NT. On the other hand it opens the door for Marius Prekevicius. Olympics experience is invaluable for any player so it should be good for the future. Songaila declared that he will retire from NT after Olympics. He didn't seem to me to be too enthusiastic this year anyway.

[Al Bundy]

it's intresting why one of the Lavrinovic twins didn't played today.