Preparation / Friendly games

[TalkBasket]

Spain always play their preparation games at home and always destroy their opponents. The only thing I don't like about this is that they use Spanish referees who are often refereeing in favour of the Spanish team. Every team that plays against Spain on their home court complain about referees. It's not a coincidence. Situation in Lithuania is totally different. When we have our referees in international game, they try to be so neutral that even make a few questionable calls that help the away team.

Of course Spain use these games (wether with the help from referees or not) to boost their confidence ahead of the Olympics. I am not saying that they wouldn't win if the refs would be neutral but I'm always for a fair play.

[TalkBasket]

FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament

Argentina 81:71 Iran (24:24, 18:11, 20:17, 19:19)

Argentina: Luis Scola 23, Carlos Delfino 18, Emanuel Ginobili 15, Fabricio Oberto 8, Andres Nocioni 5, Pablo Prigioni 4, Pablo Quinteros 3, Juan Gutierrez 3, Roman Gonzalez 2.
Iran: Hamed Ehadadi 20, Mohammadsamad Nikkhahbahrami 18, Javad Davari 14, Hamed Afagh 8, Moosa Nabipoor 6, Hamed Sohrabnajad 4, Amir Amini 1.

China 83:74 Angola (20:22, 20:15, 22:15, 21:22)

China: Ming Yao 21, Wei Liu 18, Wang Shipeng 13, Jianlian Yi 11, Jianghua Chen 6, Zhizhi Wang 5, Fangyu Zhu 3, Yue Sun 3, Nan Li 3.
Angola: Olimpio Cipriano 24, Joaquim Gomes 21, Eduardo Mingas 12, Milton Barros 8, Armando Costa 5, Carlos Morais 4.

Argentina still play way below their abilities. I wonder what's wrong

[Straight Faced]

US plays Turkey Thursday.

It's 8:00e, no idea what that converts to.

[TalkBasket]

USA 120:84 Lithuania (31:15, 25:24, 35:27, 29:18)


USA: Dwyane Wade 19, Dwight Howard 17, Michael Redd 16, LeBron James 15, Kobe Bryant 13, Carmelo Anthony 11, Chris Bosh 7, Chris Paul 6, Deron Williams 5, Tayshaun Prince 5, Carlos Boozer 3, Jason Kidd 2.
Lithuania: Rimantas Kaukėnas 17, Ramūnas Šiškauskas 11, Robertas Javtokas 11, Šarūnas Jasikevičius 9, Mindaugas Lukauskis 8, Linas Kleiza 8, Marijonas Petravičius 7, Kšištofas Lavrinovičius 6, Jonas Mačiulis 4, Simas Jasaitis 3.

Pathetic performance by Lithuania. First quarter was terrible. Players were sleepy and looked scared. I was very surprised that such experienced players as Jasikevicius and Siskauskas couldn't calm down and play. Americans wanted to get a comfortable lead from the start and put pressure in defense. Our players, due to the reasons named above, passed slowly and their passes were late so American players made many steals using. Lithuanians were too slow and Americans were left alone on the fast breaks. One pass through the court and easy points.

Second quarter was better. We were not making offensive rebounds which means no second chances to score. While Americans had plenty of opportunities for fast breaks after defensive rebounds. Lithuanian players were not nervous and as you can see from the score of the 2nd quarter it was close.

After half time we started pretty confident and closed the gap to just 9 points. The main reason was quick offense and defense. It worked for a few minutes but then a couple of turnovers and USA is up by about 20.

Although the winner was clear after three quarters but I still expected to see more effort from our players. But they were giving away the ball instead. All this lead to an embarassing result.

I know this is just a friendly game and it means nothing but you must play with dignity every time. I missed that in the 4th quarter.

Our defense has never been our strong part of the game but today we looked hopeless. This was what happened throughout all the game. When American player has the ball two Lithuanians run to guard him which obviously leads to one open player. That's why we gave away many easy baskets and open three pointers.

Speaking about USA they are well prepared but are beatable. But if you let them play their game it's extremely tough to challenge them. I would love to see them play against Spain and Greece in Beijing.

One thing that I am disappointed with about Lithuania is that we stop fighting once the score gets to high. This happens in both cases - when we are ahead and when we are down. Although these are friednly games a team that expects to win medals should have strong mentality and not let their opponents do what USA did today.

[Straight Faced]

Tough game for you guys.

[TalkBasket]

Watching game highlights again I noticed lots of travelling from USA. I hope referees will open their eyes in Beijing and will apply rules as they should. That was disappointing to see in yesterday's game.

[TalkBasket]

Lithuania 82:74 Turkey (18:15, 23:18, 22:18, 19:23)

Another average performance by Lithuania. We played better than yesterday but offense was slow once again. Coach Ramunas Butautas said that players have not adjusted to the new timezone yet. It's not our style to play such slow game so I am not sure wether it was a plan of Butautas or the players were too tired.

I have to admit that the last two games were disappointing to me but I hope to see a different team in Beijing.

[Straight Faced]

Watching game highlights again I noticed lots of travelling from USA. I hope referees will open their eyes in Beijing and will apply rules as they should. That was disappointing to see in yesterday's game.

Yeah that's one of the things I hate about the NBA, they always give them an extra step.

[TalkBasket]

USA 87:76 Australia (22:19, 22:10, 21:26, 22:21)

Australia played without Bogut who was rested because of an injury he had against Argentina. Though Aussies played pretty well. With a little bit more luck the game could have gone either side. I believe that they could make some surprises in Beijing.

Russia 72:66 China

[Straight Faced]

Yeah the Aussies played great defense.

[TalkBasket]

Argentina 112:86 Angola

I belive that we will see a different Argentina in Beijing compared to the one that we saw in the friendlies. This result just shows that.