Posts Tagged ‘Lithuania’

< Older Entries

Russia And Spain Into The Semifinals

August 8, 2012  ·  2:43PM

LONDON – Russia and Spain will square off in one Olympic semifinal, both of them having survived in quarterfinal action North Greenwich Arena Wednesday.

Russia survived a late Lithuania rally and held on for an 83-74 win behind Andrei Kirilenko‘s 19 points and 13 rebounds and some clutch shooting late from captain Sergey Monya. They led five players in double digits for Russia, which finished first in pool play from Group B.

“Sergey Monya, our captain, is the face of everything we do, the face of Russia,” said Russia’s coach David Blatt. “He has played in every game for Russia in the seven years I have been with the team. He came up the biggest at the right time. He made the two biggest shots of the game and maybe of our career together.”

Spain had to survive France and some late-game licks to advance. They closed the game on a 12-2 run and won 66-59 to set up Friday’s semifinal matchup against Russia.

Nicolas Batum took a nasty swing at Juan Carlos Navarro, balling up his fist and swinging below the belt with 24 seconds to play. His frustration boiled over after his team’s inability to finish with a flourish, the loss itself and Spain’s “flopping” as France exited the competition before the medal round.

It was the second or third such incident of the competition, with Chris Paul of the U.S. and Facundo Campazzo of Argentina both taking swings (or at least Paul was accused of taking one) during their last pool play game Monday night.

“I just wanted to give him a good reason to flop,” an unapologetic Batum said after the game. He was called for an unsportmanlike foul but wasn’t ejected from the game. And as players from both sides shook hands, Batum was in the middle of the mix without incident.

He objected to Spain’s tactics afterwards, though, insisting that he Spaniards resorted to acting late with the game on the line.

“That’s not basketball,” he said, haven taken particular offense to the reaction of Rudy Fernandez after he was fouled by Ronny Turiaf in front of the scorer’s table moments earlier. “Sometimes, you have to give them a good reason to flop. And I hope I did.”

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012 / Comments (59) /

U.S. Survives Lithuania 99-94, Thanks To Work Of Late-Game James

August 4, 2012  ·  1:56PM

LONDON – LeBron James certainly didn’t look like a worried man.

Moments after leaving the floor victorious in an as-close-as-it looks 99-94 win over Lithuania Saturday at the Olympic Basketball Arena, a relaxed James seemed almost relieved that he and the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team were put to the test sooner rather than later.

“I love the competition,” he said. “The best teams want to be tested. And I think we have some of the greatest competitors in our league [NBA] and in this world. So you want to have a game where you feel like you are tested and we had that today.”

As fun as winning by 52.3 points a night and breaking scoring and 3-point shooting records can be, it’s fun to be in the pressure cooker now and then. And no one knows pressure like James, whose muscle memory from leading the Miami Heat in The Finals worked flawlessly.

James led a 17-10 closing run, after the U.S. trailed twice in the final six minutes and 44 seconds of the game, taking over the game without really announcing as much as he was doing it.

“For LeBron to say, ‘look, I got this. I’m doing this,’” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said before being interrupted mid-sentence and asked if those were the words that came out James’ mouth. “Some people talk with their bodies and their actions and I think he did that. Basically, he did that because he wouldn’t give the ball up out on top. I think with his actions he was kind of saying that.”

The U.S. needed it. Two days after a record-setting performance in a 156-73 rout of Nigeria, Lithuania proved that this U.S. Team, while breathtaking when they are making nearly every shot they put up, is susceptible to the same failings as any confident group when they stray from their principles.

Unable to connect at a record rate from deep this time around (they went from a 29-for-46 showing Thursday night to a much more human 10-for-33 effort), the U.S. seemed to let their struggles on offense spill over into their work on the other end of the floor. Lithuania executed its offense to perfection, dared the U.S. to shoot over the tops of their outstretched hands on defense and refused to allow the fast-break showcase everyone saw against Nigeria an encore performance against a program that owns three Olympic bronze medals.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012 / Comments (58) /

U.S.-Lithuania Game Blog!

August 4, 2012  ·  9:05AM

LONDON – The real drama in this tournament happened some 90 minutes before tip-off of the U.S. Senior Men’s National Team’s game against Lithuania at the Olympic Basketball Arena.

Russia’s 77-74 comeback win over Spain in the morning session changes things for all of the medal contenders here and essentially removes Russia from the U.S. path until the gold medal game, were both teams to make it there.

Naturally, we’re moving ahead in the story here, perhaps too far ahead in the story for anyone’s liking.

“We’re a long way from that,” said Russia coach David Blatt, an American. “We’ve got a game against Australia coming up. And then we’ve got a quarterfinal game that will be a tough match no matter who we play. So we know there is a ways to go.”

But it’s on the minds of many now that Russia is in control of Group B and the U.S. owns Group A, setting up a potential rematch of the controversial gold medal game from 40 years ago.

After taking down the reigning European champions, after trailing 20-2 in the first quarter, Russia is not intimidated by any other team in this competition.

“I think the American team is the best team in the world right now,” Andrei Kirilenko said. “But in a one-game situation, anything can happen. Every game is different. You might score 156 points in one game but the next game is different … and I’d love to play the U.S. for a gold medal, but we’re a long way from that. But you have to play the best to beat the best.”

The “best” have business of their own to tend to right now in the form of Lithuania. That said, the U.S. players were in the stands for the Russia-Spain game. They had head phones on but you know they were paying close attention to the action and taking mental notes.

Just in case …

– Dive in with us here for a (nearly) play-by-play game blog from the U.S. vs. Lithuania showdown –

– FOURTH QUARTER –

99-94 U.S. win, courtesy of the finisher … LeBron James!

32.1: Kleiza with another layup. 99-92.

1:10: LeBron with another drive and finish. Any doubts about whose team this is are being answered right now folks. 99-90.

1:58: Kleiza with the layup. Lithuania is not going anywhere. 97-90.

2:08: LeBron works his way into the lane and finishes on the left side, 97-88.

2:46: LeBron misses a corner 3, CP3 throws the mid-air pass to D. Will for another 3 that falls this time. 95-88. They’re stubborn and apparently right to be so. 95-88.

3:14: Songaila silences the “USA” chants with a layup. 92-88.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012 / Comments (105) /

Desperate Lithuania Up Next For U.S.

August 3, 2012  ·  8:07PM

LONDON – Unlike many of the other teams in this competition, certain members of the Lithuanian contingent here at the Olympics have tangible knowledge of what it feels like to take a bite out of the machine that is the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team.

Before the U.S. program was back to its current and dominant state, basketball-mad Lithuania shocked the basketball world with a during the 2004 Olympics, a loss the U.S. made up for in the bronze medal game.

Veteran Lithuanian guard Sarunas Jasikevicius led the charge in that 2004 upset and is still on the roster, along with fellow former NBA player Darius Songaila. But times have changed a bit since then for both sides.

The U.S. is back to its gold medal ways, courtesy of the complete program makeover engineered by USA Basketball chairman and managing director Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski. The U.S. is chasing a second straight gold medal and has won their three games here by a jaw-dropping average of 52.3 points, a figure boosted significantly by Thursday night’s record-setting 83-point drubbing of Nigeria.

Lithuania is still one of the world’s most formidable outfits, the mere mention of the three-time Olympic bronze medalists prompts an immediate demeanor shift for Krzyzewski. But they are not among the favorites in this tournament, relying as much or more on younger stars like Linas Kleiza and prized Toronto Raptors big man Jonas Valanciunas to carry the team than they do some of their stars from previous teams.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012 / Comments (17) /

USA Rolling With New Super-Sub ‘Melo

August 3, 2012  ·  11:22AM




LONDON – Chris Paul was to the point in the huddle.

“During one of the timeouts, I told Coach K, ‘I’m not running any other plays except the one for ‘Melo,’ ” Paul said Friday morning, before the U.S. men’s Olympic team meeting at their cozy hotel downtown. It was a third-quarter huddle of Thursday’s game with Nigeria, when Carmelo Anthony was in the process of losing his mind (scoring-wise).

Anthony is paid to score by the Knicks, so getting 37 points in a game isn’t a big deal for him. But he’s rarely been as efficient as he was in Thursday’s 156-73 (156-73! it boggles the mind and fingers just to type that!) dismembering of Nigeria at the Olympic Park Basketball Arena, helping set all manner of U.S. individual and team Olympic records. And the U.S. team is showing signs that, just as in 2008, it’s rounding into shape at just the right time to win the gold medal.

There was some concern early in the training camp process for this team about how the cores of the 2008 Olympic team and the 2010 World Championship team would blend. The ’08 “Redeem Team” that won the gold medal in Beijing featured Anthony, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James; the ’10 team that won gold in Turkey was led by the new jacks: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love. It’s not that anyone was going to be churlish about minutes; these are all mature guys. But any time a player is used to performing star turns, it’s sometimes hard to be “Guy Catching a Cab” in the closing credits.

But after Durant looked less like himself coming off the bench in the early exhibitions, Mike Krzyzewski made a switch in the starting lineup, bringing Anthony off the bench and starting Durant. Those small adjustments seem to have helped. Durant started out hot Thursday, hitting three 3-pointers in the first six minutes, and after Kobe Bryant scored 14 points early as well, they handed the baton to Anthony. He was white-hot from minute one.

“Carmelo would have like a 60-point game, I think … if we didn’t limit him,” Krzyzewski said late Thursday at the team hotel. “And the neat thing about that is that everybody on the team wanted him to shoot the ball.”

Anthony made 13 of 16 shots, including 10 of 12 from behind the arc. He’s gotten hot before, but it almost always involves some posting up or driving to the basket, where he uses his strength to get to the foul line. Thursday, though, almost all of his makes were from skeet-shooting distance. When you score 37 on 16 shots (in just 14 minutes), you’re doing it right.

“I was at a loss of words watching,” Love said. “I was telling Craig Sager, every time (Anthony) went up, I just stood up, held up three points in the air. I knew it was in. When a guy gets in a rhythm like that, everything seems to go in.” (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012 / Comments (10) /

Lithuania Thumps Nigeria 72-53

July 31, 2012  ·  12:20PM

LONDON – Lithuania’s veterans helped them to their first win in Olympic competition this morning as Darius Songaila and Linas Kleiza combined for 23 points in a 72-53 win over Nigeria.

Rimantas Kaukenas added 10 points and Sarunas Jasikevicius nine points and nine assists for Lithuania, which built a 19-point lead before halftime only to see Nigeria close to within seven points, 34-27, by halftime. But they resumed the basketball clinic after halftime, outplaying Nigeria on both ends of the floor throughout second half.

Al-Farouq Aminu and Ike Diogu had double-doubles for Nigeria. Aminu had 12 points and 11 rebounds; Diogu finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. But Nigeria made just one of their 16 attempts from beyond the 3-point line and shot just 24 percent (16-for-66) for overall.

Nigeria plays the U.S. Thursday.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012 / Comments (6) /

Russia, Lithuania Heading To London

July 7, 2012  ·  10:11PM





HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – As the United States named its 12-man roster for London 2012 on Saturday, two teams earned trips to London with victories in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Caracas, Venezuela.

Russia and Lithuania, two of the favorites in the 12-team qualifying tourney, are teams Nos. 10 and 11 in the Olympic field.

In the first of Saturday’s games, point guard Alexey Shved (who looks to be NBA-bound this fall) led Russia to an 85-77 win over Nigeria, scoring 22 points and dishing out six assists. The game was tied at 26 early in the second quarter, but Russia outscored Nigeria 20-5 to close the period and led by as many as 21 in the second half.

Andrei Kirilenko added 19 points, eight rebounds and four steals for Russia, while Ike Diogu (who played two games for the Spurs last season) led Nigeria with 16 points and 14 boards. The Hornets’ Al-Farouq Aminu scored 13 points, but had seven turnovers.

Russia shot a scorching 14-for-27 from 3-point range. They were arguably the U.S. Team’s toughest competition in the medal rounds in the 2010 World Championship, losing 89-79 in the quarterfinals.

The team the U.S. beat in the ’10 semifinals was the second team to qualify for the Olympics on Saturday. Lithuania, who had a disappointing finish in last year’s Eurobasket (which they hosted), redeemed themselves with a 109-83 blowout of the Dominican Republic.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012 / Comments (15) /

France, Russia Reach EuroBasket Semis

September 15, 2011  ·  5:14PM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Hometown and host-nation favorite Lithuania saved its Olympic qualifying bacon with a win over Slovenia in early action Thursday at EuroBasket 2011.

The crowd faves were just the warm up act, however, as France (as noted by my main man and NBA.com’s John Schuhmann) and Russia played their way into the semifinals with wins …

Russia 77, Serbia 67 (Box Score)

There is only one team still playing in EuroBasket that hasn’t tasted defeat in this competition. Russia has won nine straight games and will take that unblemished mark into a semifinal showdown against France. When you have the most versatile player in the competition, do-it-all swingman Andrei Kirilenko, leading the charge every night, it makes sense that Russia continues to wear down the competition. Kirilenko finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, four steals and two blocks.

“Two years ago we played in the same phase against the same group of great players and the same great coach and we lost, as I said then, by a better team,” said Russia coach David Blatt. “We moved forward from there. We provided our players with the kind of teaching and culture it takes to build a successful national team. We got back two of our main players – Kirilenko and [Viktor] Khryapa, who didn’t play in 2009, and you saw tonight how important they are. But the story is the other players who matured and are now a higher level basketball players. It’s a sweet win, but the joy is short, because we play tomorrow in the semifinals. We’ve had a great run so far.”

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in FIBA 2011 / Comments Off /

Macedonia Shocks Lithuania, Joins Spain In Semifinals At EuroBasket

September 14, 2011  ·  6:54PM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The quarterfinal round got off to an explosive (and rousing, for one country) start Wednesday, thanks to our friends from Macedonia …

(NBA.com’s John Schuhmann recapped Wednesday’s first game, Spain’s 86-64 win over Slovenia, below.)

Macedonia 67, Lithuania 65 (Box Score)

Vlado Ilievski‘s 3-pointer (off an assist from Bo McCalebb) with 11 seconds left pushed Macedonia ahead and they held on to pull off one of the most shocking upsets in EuroBasket history, knocking off host nation Lithuania before a raucous crowd in a hostile environment. Ilievski (12 points) and McCalebb (23 points) had plenty of company in the heroes corner in the Macedonia locker room after the game. Vojdan Stojanovski who didn’t miss a single shot, he was 5-for-5 from beyond the 3-point line, finishing with 15 points.

“This is a huge win for us. We are very happy,” Stojanovksi said. “I think we played very well and we deserved this win. I have to thank our playmakers because they put me in a position to have open shots. I was confident of making them. Spain will be a tough team but we have proved that we can beat good teams in this tournament.”

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in FIBA 2011 / Comments (51) /

Serbia In, Germany Out At EuroBasket

September 11, 2011  ·  8:54PM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Spain claimed the top spot in Group E with an easy win over France in what should have been a clash of the titans on Day 11 at EuroBasket 2011.

(More on that shortly!)

The day belonged to the crew from Serbia, though, as they claimed something even more important; a spot in the quarterfinals …

Serbia 68, Turkey 67 (Box Score)

Serbia needed this win to secure their ticket to the quarterfinals and to keep their Olympic hopes alive. They also needed an Ersan Ilyasova miss in the final seconds to escape Turkey in a thriller that went down the final tense moments for both teams. It helped that Milos Tedosic finally returned to form, finishing with a game-high 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

This loss is a wicked blow for Turkey, the runner-up (to the U.S. team) at last summer’s World Championships on their home soil. ”We are very sad,” said Turkey coach Orhun Ene. ”We were second at the last World Championship and we had big expectations for this tournament. We didn’t show our potential throughout the tournament. We promised the Turkish people that we would try to qualify for the Olympics for the first time, but we lost too many games. This was our last chance and we lost the game in only one possession.”

They won’t have to search hard to find reasons why didn’t succeed. Making just 55 percent (16-for-29) of your free throws in a game decided by the thinnest of margins is certainly a recipe for disaster. Remember, they made a paltry 45 percent (10-for-22) of their free throws Friday in a six-point loss to Germany. Serbia shot an impressive 81 percent (13-for-16) from the free throw line and also grabbed three more rebounds (38-35) than Turkey.

“This was very tough. Everybody was under pressure as the winner would go to the quarterfinals,” said Serbia’s coach, Dusan Ivkovic. “We controlled the game in the first half but our concentration went down in the second half. We led the game for almost 40 minutes only to allow Turkey to have the last shot. We deserved this victory because we were better on the night.”

Spain 96, France 69 (Box Score)

The top spot in Group E belongs to the defending champions, courtesy of their win over a France team that played without both Tony Parker and Joakim Noah (both given a day of rest). Without two of their biggest stars, France struggled to keep the game close after halftime. Spain used a 27-4 run in the third quarter to blow the game open and then cruised to the finish. The loss ended France’s seven-game win streak.

The difference in approach to this game was interesting, with France easing up and Spain going all out. ”It was a weird game but we wanted to respect our opponent as well as other teams who are playing in this tournament to define the final positions and especially for ourselves, we believe there is nothing better than a good game to improve and get better,” said Spain coach Sergio Scariolo. ”This was our motivation. Everybody gave something. We get to the point with the do-or-die competition starts. We know we start from zero but it’s better to get there in the right way.”

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in FIBA 2011 / Comments (2) /

< Older Entries