| Friday | World Championship Qualifier | Turkey – Lithuania | 21:00 | Istanbul |
The 31-year-old 197 cm tall Vilnius native has already visited this arena, which holds 10,000 spectators, once with Vilnius “Rytas”, Vitoria “Baskonia” and the Lithuanian national team.
“As far as I recall now, it was 2-1. We hope that tomorrow we will also go into the plus, – smiled Gytis Radzevičius. – Everything is fine. Today we had a training session, just like yesterday. We practiced shooting at the hoops we will shoot at tomorrow. Everything is good, everything is according to plan.”
It definitely won’t be easy.
In the vitally important fourth FIBA “window”, the Lithuanians will play with a depleted lineup, and ahead is the European vice-champion Turkey, coached by Ergin Ataman.
“I won’t say anything new – we don’t have as much talent as they do. Everyone understands that, – said G. Radzevičius. – The only way is to go through energy, through desire, to fight for the team, support each other, remain a group that works. We have to work hard and hope for the best.”
– Gytis, what impression did you get of the Turkish national team from the two friendly matches of this team?
– A well-balanced team – they have good guards, tall players, and wings. They have everything needed. They are a physical, well-shooting team. It is no coincidence that Turkey is the European vice-champion and has not lost in the group yet.
– Is the most important thing to stop the naturalized American Malachi Flynn?
– He is a good player. Probably now the game depends a lot on him. A good scorer, the ball is often in his hands. Defense against him will be an important focus.
– What game moments did you emphasize most after the preparation phase?
– As I mentioned, we emphasized the two quarters when we played poorly, and the other two quarters after the long break. I think we can learn a lot from these games. Really good material. We have learned some of those lessons.
| Place | Team | Wins | Points |
| 1. | Turkey | 6-0 | 12 |
| 2. | Italy | 5-1 | 11 |
| 3. | Serbia | 4-2 | 10 |
| 4. | Lithuania | 3-3 | 9 |
| 5. | Iceland | 3-3 | 9 |
| 6. | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2-4 | 8 |
– Do you agree with the idea that the Lithuanian national team will not feel pressure in these games?
– I don’t know how it is with that pressure. There are things in life that press more. We play basketball. It is personal for everyone. Maybe for some, coming to training is pressure. We have to go play, we know what we have to do.
– Were you surprised to see that the “Rytas” budget this season will reach 10.7 million euros?
– I had already heard some information from the media that the budget would grow. I want to be happy about the annually increasing budget, new people keep joining the club. The club is moving in a good direction, I am glad, in the future the budget numbers may be even higher.
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