Lithuanian basketball players lost to Estonia 108:110 after overtime in a friendly match in Kaunas on Thursday evening, receiving many lessons ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualifying battles.
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The Estonians are also rehearsing, continuing their fight to qualify for the 2027 World Cup, and the test in Lithuania pleased them, as the ending was also favorable to the guests, with Kristian Kullamae hitting the winning two-pointer from about five meters with 0.8 seconds left to play.
Estonian “Postimees” compared the shot of the former Panevėžys “Lietkabelis” guard, which fooled Marek Blaževič, to Michael Jordan’s signature shot.
“These were typical first games after the summer break. In such games, there are many mistakes and misunderstandings; today’s match was no different,” Postimees quoted H. Rannula.
However, the coach confirmed that despite the unofficial status of the match, a victory against Lithuania is always sweet.
“Games against Lithuania are always special for us. Moreover, this day is special because we could practice closing out games. There is a lot of learning material, but the end of the overtime was very positive,” H. Rannula rejoiced.
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He said he expected a tough game from the men coached by Rimas Kurtinaitis.
“We expected tough moments, but there were also many positives,” said the Estonian team coach. “They played with the right energy. It was expected that Lithuania would play physically tough with this lineup, and that happened, but we held on. I don’t think any team was satisfied with the defense.”
H. Rannula further analyzed the game: “There were many miscommunications defending against pick-and-roll, both teams scored many easy points. Different ‘bad guys’ stepped onto the court, Lithuania provoked 50 free throws, all of this raised the score. This is an area to improve both in defense and in finding solutions in offense.”
Both teams had clear leaders. Ąžuolas Tubelis scored 29 points for the hosts, while Estonia’s top scorers were Henri Drellas (29 points), who signed a contract with Klaipėda “Neptūnas” this week, and K. Kullamae (21).
“Now it is clear which players are not yet in good basketball shape. When more time was played, endurance quickly showed. The offense was limited to one or two men. It is obvious that we need to move the ball more in the future and find more solutions in offense,” H. Rannula looked ahead.
The Estonians will play a friendly match against Italy on Saturday, and next week in the qualifiers they will face Hungary and Finland.
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