Our national team, severely weakened in chaotic preparations, played four friendly matches.
Read more Is it true that COVID vaccines make us more vulnerable to other seasonal illnesses?
In the first match, which took place behind closed doors, Rimas Kurtinaitis’ men, according to 15min sources, defeated the reserve team 84:80, and a few days later lost to Estonia 108:110 in overtime in Kaunas.
In the third meeting, the team, which also had many traces of the reserve team, fell 74:88 to the Arizona Wildcats in Alytus, and the next day in Vilnius defeated the NCAA champion Michigan Wolverines 96:84.
Against the background of these results – very poor spectator attendance, reminiscent of the COVID period.
“It is very difficult to assess the preparation phase due to certain things – what was communicated, how it was played, which players arrived, who the opponents were. Estonia beat us, but that can be attributed to the factor of the first friendly matches when there were no trainings or game rhythm. Later, we played against NCAA teams. We lost one, but played with a mixed lineup, won another, but probably had only about 15 good minutes. It is difficult to evaluate the entire preparation,” 15min said Martynas Gecevičius. “The situation is complicated – neither the preparation is good, nor does it probably inspire anything. The biggest plus is the victory in the last match, strange as it may sound. We saw from the players’ reactions during the matches and comments after the matches how important this victory was. Maybe even three different players emphasized the victory and some kind of pressure relief. They might feel better psychologically, and that is a huge plus. No matter what the preparation was, a lot of luck will be needed against Turkey. To win, the Turks will have to play very poorly and ours very well. Did the game in preparation convince us to expect a miracle? Probably not. The chances remain the same as they looked before the training camp.”
“It is hard to evaluate and hard to criticize,” continued Martynas Gecevičius. “Seeing who arrived, it is a complete Ąžuolas Tubelis team, and the second best-looking person on the team is probably Dominykas Stenionis. That says a lot too. I speak figuratively, but we see certain shortcomings. There are only two players in the front line. In the guard line, Augustas Marčiulionis looked good in the last match, but the bench players’ capabilities currently seem very limited. All for understandable reasons. Probably many players in the team would not have gone to the reserve team if all candidates had gathered in the first team, and then the reserve was selected. I am not against the players, just the situation is like this.”
Read more Artificial intelligence failure: farmer relying on chatbot destroyed 10 ha of crops
