On the Nemunas island, the first Lithuanian national team scrimmage in the control cycle was watched by perhaps about 6 thousand spectators.
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Rimas Kurtinaitis’ men started the game better, points were scored by the main two tall players belonging to Kaunas “Žalgiris”, but with substitutions the Lithuanian team stopped, and the guests from Estonia took 3 balls in just 2 minutes and went on an 11:0 run.
Led by former Panevėžys “Lietkabelis” leader Kristjan Kullamae, the Estonians led 31:28 after the first quarter.
Klaipėda “Neptūnas” newcomer Henri Drello’s long shots in the second quarter increased our deficit to double digits.
Although Ąžuolas Tubelis scored 18 points before halftime, the difference in quality of play between the starting five and the bench players was too great for Lithuania to be ahead after two quarters. The deficit was minimal (49:50).
Ą.Tubelis continued his scoring spree in the third quarter, but the Estonians, led by “Neptūnas” representative H.Drello, remained ahead – 79:75.
One of the “Žalgiris” leaders injured his leg in the middle of the fourth quarter. Although it seemed that Ą.Tubelis would not return to the game, the tall player stepped onto the court with a couple of minutes left.
With just over a minute left, Matas Jogėla took Lithuania ahead 94:92 with a three-pointer, but the Estonians quickly equalized the score.
During overtime, 178 cm tall Dominykas Stenionis both made a “sweet” pass to Gytis Radzevičius and nailed a beautiful three-pointer, but the hero was K.Kullamae, who made the winning shot.
In the first friendly encounter, R.Kurtinaitis did not call up two players from the bench – Karolis Lukošiūnas and Regimantas Miniotas.
“I think that in this kind of game, which we lost but came back into, we made relatively few mistakes. We made 12, and they made 17. These numbers are good,” R.Kurtinaitis said after the defeat. “Although I don’t rely on that, there was a bit of luck on their side. I’m not talking about free throws – they missed 2, while we missed 18. And we were still at that level, played together, had overtime. Well, you always miss a point or two when you don’t do something. I think we are on the right path. We have worked a lot on physical preparation, only the last two days we worked on more serious basketball. I think in a couple more days we should get back to the shooting rhythm – free throws, three-pointers. That’s the picture now.”
The role of playmaker was shared by three point guards.
Augustas Marčiulionis played a total of 19 minutes, during which he scored 9 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, and made 3 steals.
Kristupas Žemaitis had 6 points and 3 assists in 19 minutes on the court.
Meanwhile, 178 cm tall Dominykas Stenionis, who came from the reserve team, scored 6 points and made 9 assists in 18 minutes of play.
“They are all a bit different,” said R.Kurtinaitis. “Although before the game I doubted Stenionis’ defense, his height is still small, but he is a strong and fast guy. We had no problems with him in defense, and you saw the offense yourselves. I had already invited him to the window, but he was injured then and couldn’t play. But I know his stats, I know his performances in the Latvian championship, which he won with the team and became MVP. I value those things because they are not given just like that. Sometimes a player scores 20 points, and the team takes 8th place, but he became MVP and won the championship. He plays a slightly different kind of basketball, you can play “two against two” with him. Dominykas maybe takes some risks with passes, but that risk pays off because he calculates angles well. His tandem with the quickly descending tall player Ąžuolas was very good. He passes the ball well after the “short-roll”, and Ąžuolas finishes the attacks after one dribble. I think these two guys will be the main ones.
What we want from Marčiulionis, we got. He surprised me a bit with his defense, he defended well. And Kris is Kris. He played well, held the frame.”
– Is D.Stenionis already breaking into the main twelve?
– I said they would be the main “two against two” players. We have two taller guards who defend well, and we will take Stenionis as a combo guard because he livens up the offense a lot, reads the game very well, and plays not only the planned offense. He reads the small things when you can cut. Did you see the pass he made to Radzevičius? Such things are hard to teach. It’s either given or not. He has a natural gift, so we have to use it.
– Was Donatas Motiejūnas’ short playing time due to physical training coaches’ recommendations?
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– No, I wanted to see how he would look on the court. I missed activity today. I know he worked with all his might. Today we played without him. Maybe because we didn’t have his help, Ąžuolas played more in the fifth position. We will adjust these things.
– How realistic is it to expect that D.Motiejūnas will regain his basketball feel within a week?
– You understand, not because I don’t know what to do, but we follow a joint preparation plan of four physical training coaches. They have calculated, based on scientists, that we should be in good shape for the game against Turkey. I think our form is improving, shooting is improving, endurance is improving. I think we are on the right path.
– And what about specifically D.Motiejūnas?
– I wouldn’t want to limit myself to one player. We are a team. One may have scored a lot, another may not have scored. I look at the team play. We managed to gather the team in a fairly short time. I wouldn’t say we played badly, maybe we just lacked a win, missed that one shot.
If you remember the European Championship, we dominated the battle for rebounds without having super height. Today we had problems. Although they took 12 rebounds under our basket, the last 3 were very important. I would like our small players to pick up the scraps from the ground when the tall players block the opponents. Maybe we lacked luck or strength. These are the things the result reflects today.
– Was there any thought not to play overtime at all?
– I was already ready to take Ąžuolas off, but when such a moment came, I thought we would let him play one more minute and maybe we would win. During overtime, I took him off, maybe he played a bit too much. We still have some time, we can give him a day or a day and a half off. I think that rhythm, when you get the maximum and then rest, is not bad. Look at how they play in the Euroleague, when after a double week they go to play in the local championship. They manage to do it, you need to reduce the number of trainings. For players who played more today, I can give that. I would like players who played less to play more against Arizona. Not because they are better or worse, but because they need game rhythm. We will decide how many players we will give there.
– How much health do such long and nerve-wracking games take?
– It’s a normal process. I came to basketball when I was ten years old, and now I am 66. I was a player and now I am a coach, so I have experienced many games of various ranks. That’s the job and that’s it. Of course, it’s a pity when opponents score a “2+1” and we miss open shots, and then we have to shoot free throws, which we didn’t hit well today. I needed accuracy. Yes, sometimes I hold my head, but not because the players are bad, but because I want the best. These are emotions.
– Did you expect to have more time during the last minute timeout? And how did the last play plan go overall?
– The plan was good. I think if we had passed the ball where it was needed, it might have turned out differently. The pass had to go to the wing. We misread a bit, but we will watch, do, tell, teach.
– In Bologna, you didn’t switch defenders with Ąžuolas at the end of the fourth quarter, but today you did. Is this something you will do in official games as well?
– You see, if I move Ąžuolas to the fifth position, we can all five switch. If Ąžuolas plays the fourth, I don’t want to switch with Marekas. These are our strategies. If you remember the unfortunate game in Bologna, we had a good result when we switched defenders. We just lack a bit of accuracy to say earlier that we switch. We lack a bit of practice, but we learn in such tense games. I am very happy with these games because the tension was all the time. It gives much more than training-type matches.
– How did you react to Matas Buzelis’ words that it was difficult for him to understand what the coach wanted from him in the national team?
– Communication was good. I don’t know, I evaluate all players equally and respectfully, I want them to play good basketball. Not always and not for everyone is it easy to immediately enter the European model. If you remember or read, Antetokounmpo said he understood European basketball only after two years. I have no complaints about Matas. He played as he played. He played quite well. How many minutes? As you saw, yesterday LeBron’s son (Bryce) made some mistake, the coach substituted, and he shrugged and sat on the bench. That’s normal, you play a minute or fifteen or thirty, like Ąžuolas. I don’t want them to play badly, I want all twelve to play well.
There were times I substituted. Matas is a great guy, we communicate well. He wrote that he can’t come this window. I talk to his father, I get along with his family. I see no problems with players speaking out. Maybe not everyone is happy with their roles, but basketball is not an individual sport. It’s basketball where you have to fit everyone in.
If you remember, at the Olympics, the USA “dream team” played in the final with Serbia, but Steve Kerr didn’t let two players play the whole tournament. Only 10 played. Sometimes you can play with 8, sometimes with 10, sometimes with 12. Americans play with 10, I try with 12. I have no complaints about Matas. He played great, I am happy and thank him for coming to play for the Lithuanian national team because there was a question whether he would choose the USA or Lithuania. He chose Lithuania. Honor and glory to him.
I am satisfied. I have no doubt that he is a very good and future Lithuanian national team player who will be a leader. I have nothing bad to say. Maybe he thinks he could have played more, but we all think so.
