The Lithuanian men’s basketball team successfully concluded the fourth FIBA “window” and kept the hope alive to secure a ticket to the 2027 World Championship.
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However, the situation is still very complicated.
The national team coached by Rimas Kurtinaitis and Tomas Pačėsas suffered four losses in the first eight qualifying games, three of which were squandered in the final moments after holding double-digit or even overwhelming leads.
This led to the resignation of these two strategists at the end of July, which was ultimately not accepted, as the search for a new leader conducted by the “Lithuanian Basketball” association was fruitless.
“A very honorable decision was made – the coach Rimas and I submitted resignation letters. We will submit them again if the qualifying stage ends (unsuccessfully), so the question is whether the association will accept it. That is obvious because we are such people,” Tomas Pačėsas told the host Marius Jokūbaitis of the “LRT Radio Ring” show. “We knew about Darius Songaila’s invitation because we had submitted resignations. It did not happen behind our backs; the behavior was honorable and coordinated.”
In the last “window,” the Lithuanians lost to the European vice-champion Turkey in Istanbul by as much as 28 points. This is the sixth-largest defeat in the history of Lithuanian basketball.
T. Pačėsas did not want to dwell on the painful setback, emphasizing the vital 78:73 victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina representatives in Vilnius.
“I am happy for the team, which after such a defeat achieved a very important and impressive victory against the Bosnians,” said R. Kurtinaitis’s assistant T. Pačėsas. “My assessment is unequivocal – we shot three-pointers with 16% accuracy, but we managed to win against a very strong team with prominent leaders, NBA players. I want to celebrate that. Players and coaches had to find strength, ambition, and emotions within themselves.
I would like to talk about the tactical decisions of the coach, which were made both now and in the European Championship, where we stood out and achieved results not only thanks to physical preparation or the arrival of good players, as the team was significantly renewed, but also thanks to our groundwork and tactical decisions. We could talk about this for a long time.
I do not want to wallow in ashes about the failure in Turkey, to praise the Turks or belittle ourselves. We found the strength to change in two days.”
The 54-year-old from Alytus shared his thoughts about the fire that broke out in the basketball community after the painful loss in Bologna, after which the president of the “Lithuanian Basketball” association, Mindaugas Balčiūnas, faced a huge wave of criticism not only from fans but also from well-known national basketball figures, coaches, and players, and was urged to resign.
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Ultimately, about 20 players refused to attend the qualifying “window” at the end of August for various reasons.
“Many things need to be separated because basketball and the association’s activities consist of many components. If we equate basketball activity with better or worse national team performances and evaluate based on that, then everything is clear. In that case, exactly a year ago, the men’s team took fifth place in the European Championship, the result was very good, and in my and others’ opinion, the association’s work was good then. But such an assessment is not objective because many youth teams achieved good results and growth was obvious. If we talk about the bottom, Lithuanian basketball started to rise exactly a year ago. A year has passed, and now we say we have fallen to the bottom again? Everything cannot remain at the same level,” said T. Pačėsas. “Expectations are very high, they are raised, and whether they are overestimated or not is another question. This is natural because basketball holds a special position in Lithuania. I think many things need to be separated. You talk about elite statements. Maybe the time will come to clarify, or maybe you will explain to me what the elite is and how to understand it? Looking at the results, the association’s leader is responsible for them, and it is a stretch to say that players came last window and now they did not… Each should be asked separately. Now to speak in general phrases that this one is not suitable, and that one is not suitable… Various phrases were also used last year, I do not see exceptional situations. The national team has the opportunities and chances to fight for a place in the World Championship, which it will do. I think it is irresponsible and wrong to stretch that the association is responsible for the results because players and coaches are responsible for them.”
“You talk about the elite, and to me, that is strange,” continued T. Pačėsas. “For example, Arvydas Sabonis served as the federation president for ten years, and he was elected by the same community that now elected a non-elite representative. Sabonis was unquestionable. If I remember correctly, there was no other candidate because the basketball community valued his contribution, experience, and authority. These things alone would be enough for the entire community to elect him president. The fact that Arvydas Sabonis and others supported a candidate whose members did not elect (Robertas Javtokas – editor’s note) shows that these people are thoughtful and do not accept ‘puppets.’ You need to convince with your program, understanding, and authority that you deserve the position. Whoever does that wins the elections.”
T. Pačėsas was also reminded of the conflict with Jonas Valančiūnas in March 2025, to which the long-time national team captain reacted very sharply.
“That is low,” J. Valančiūnas commented on R. Kurtinaitis’s statements and behavior at the time.
Returning to coaching after a seven-year break, the Alytus native participated in the show throwing remarks about hunters in the national team who come to the training camp unprepared, “with a belly and a cigarette in their mouth,” later stating that Laurynas Birutis is not a worse player than the NBA players mentioned by the show’s host.
The specialist continues to maintain that he was not talking about a specific person.
“Going back to the one-and-a-half-year-old stories, they were exaggerated because general statements were personalized. I have said many times that I do not know who fishes or hunts in the national team, and for someone to sit and pour from empty to hollow… I think the exaggeration turned out quite well,” said T. Pačėsas. “There have been and will be such stories because there have been and will be interested people. I was even surprised how it is possible to make something out of nothing that people would start to be interested in and believe. We remember the blown-up scandal that did not even exist, supposedly the association tries or will try to take medals from the player (Robertas Javtokas). That was never discussed. In the end, it was a hiss. But by spinning those topics, blowing them up, it works well for some. I think this context causes the division because we spread not facts but someone tries to create content. We succumb to the whole flow, and it happens.
Maybe I was misunderstood and misheard.
If you talk about division, turmoil, these topics have always been and will be. There are many basketball players and coaches, deserving and less deserving, and they do not necessarily have to be friends. It is very difficult to find common ground among all – there are ambitions, emotions, experiences, and age differences. I see nothing wrong if discussions take place, only they must be constructive, like criticism. I see nothing wrong.”
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