In Turkey, the sixth largest defeat in the history of Lithuanian basketball was suffered, when Ergin Ataman’s trainees outscored our team by as much as 28 points, but three days later Rimas Kurtinaitis’ men managed to secure a vital victory that keeps their hopes alive in the fight for a spot in the World Championship.
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The national team playing in Vilnius defeated the Bosnia and Herzegovina team 78:73 (20:22, 22:23, 19:12, 17:15).
Rimas Kurtinaitis made two changes to the starting five compared to the game in Turkey.
178 cm point guard Dominykas Stenionis, who played his first official game in the national team, was replaced by Kristupas Žemaitis, while the position of the poorly performing captain Gytis Radzevičius was given to Mindaugas Kačinas.
From the first moments – an unexpected defensive maneuver against the Bosnian leader Jusuf Nurkić, whose guarding was entrusted to M. Kačinas. However, the Lithuanian who played in Poland last season fouled the opponent’s big man three times in less than three minutes and quickly sat on the bench.
K. Žemaitis, who looked shaky at the start of the game, missed two open three-pointers, made one mistake, and was also substituted, with Augustas Marčiulionis taking his place on the court.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina team, which provoked as many as 8 fouls in the first quarter, led 23:20.
Only 1 minute and 6 seconds into the first half, R. Kurtinaitis’ trainees, who were ahead, mostly used zone defense, pressing the opponents’ leaders in the paint, and went into halftime trailing 42:46. The brightest star among our players was Augustas Marčiulionis, who recorded 10 points and 3 assists.
The home team had problems fighting for rebounds, but solid defense demonstrated in the tough duel of the two teams in the third quarter, during which they allowed only 12 points, allowed them to take the lead 61:58.
In the middle of the fourth quarter – a series of three consecutive shots by Ąžuolas Tubelis, capped by an impressive dunk in a fast break “earth-air” over the opponent, which allowed Lithuania to gain a 5-point lead for the first time in the game.
Jusuf Nurkić, who was charging under the basket against the Lithuanians, emotionally reacted to the silent referee whistle after a successful shot, for which he was penalized with a technical foul, while R. Kurtinaitis’ trainees, who scored 5 unanswered points, gained an 8-point advantage with 4 minutes left until the end of the battle, which they managed to maintain until the end of the match.
In the crucial game, R. Kurtinaitis used an eight-player rotation, leaving Regimantas Miniotas (did not play), Justas Furmanavičius (played 11 seconds), Donatas Motiejūnas (played 3 minutes), and M. Kačinas (played 5 minutes) on the sidelines.
In the fifth window of the World Championship qualifiers, which will take place at the end of November, the Lithuanian national team will host Serbian basketball players at home, and three days later will travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“First of all, I am glad that we won. Today we made fewer mistakes, only 8. Maybe we were not so good in the fight for the ball, we lost the battle again. But we played combatively, I have no complaints about the players who fought and won,” said R. Kurtinaitis.
– What are your first emotions after such a victory, when there was a lot of noise? Did you manage to enjoy it?
– What joy, when there is so much noise? Of course, it’s good that we won. I would like to highlight the team, which is also affected by that noise. You talk a lot about the leaders and coaches. That’s one thing. But it also affects the team. Today we really fought well, the men did not falter and did not give in to the situation as it was. Today we really fought well, we went and fell on the balls. I am happy with these men who gathered. I am very grateful to them. We defend Lithuania’s honor, not the federation’s honor. I am very glad that we won today. I dedicate this victory to Lithuania.
– Although the Bosnian leader Jusuf Nurkić scored 20 points, he made only 4 shots from the game and grabbed only 3 rebounds. What were the main focuses against him?
– If you noticed, we started the game with Kačinas against him because we wanted to save both Marek and Ąžuolas, which we managed. There were many tactical decisions, I don’t know, maybe you notice. We defended unusual positions to save our leaders. We were prepared, as much as we could in one day, for zone defense. It worked several times, later not, so we had to take it off. We have a number of players we cannot defend individually, so we have to set up a zone. We defended with zone defense in the last quarter in Turkey as well. I am glad we won. Something worked, something didn’t, but a win is a win.
– What benefits did Donatas Motiejūnas bring in this window?
– First of all, he is an experienced player, has authority in the team, and gives good advice. He always works with full effort. What level he is at today, that is what it is. I am grateful to him for coming, helping to train and prepare. He participated as much as he could according to his possibilities.
– How do you evaluate the result achieved in the window? Is one win the maximum?
– The maximum would be two wins out of two. As it happened, it is neither good nor bad. If we stayed in the fight for the World Championship, that’s good.
– How do you evaluate the information that Darius Songaila might take over from you in November?
– If he takes over… I don’t know, I haven’t talked to the federation yet. As you know, I had left, circumstances happened, so I came back. How it will be further, we will see. And why in November? They play in the European Cup, and that was the excuse not to go to the national team. Will they not play there in November? Or will something change?
– Since over 20 players refused to participate in the window during the summer, is there any concern before the November window? And in general, what happened that so many did not come?
– You know very well yourself. You ask a question when you already know the answer. I do not comment on such things. I am a coach who was invited to work. I was dissatisfied with my result and the team’s result, so I resigned. But no one took over the helm, so I came back. I don’t really react to what you write about me.
I came to basketball at the age of 10, and now I am 66. I have devoted so much time to basketball. I was one of the pioneers, we played in the Olympic Games. I don’t really react, but it is unpleasant that you made me a public enemy. I don’t know what I am doing wrong, what I have offended. Such things are a pity. These are human issues that are lacking.
I do not comment on who does what because everyone does their job. How they work, that’s how they work. If necessary, I will step down, if not, I will stay. That is my position.
– If someone agrees to take over from you, will you let them?
– I will consider it. I can’t say. You ask like this… The rainbow has seven colors, and you see black or white. It’s hard to answer. I will consider it.
I have matters to attend to besides the national team. As I said, I came to basketball, which is my life. I work as I work. There are good games, there are bad games. I don’t think I deserved all the noise that happened about the national team. I don’t know the backstage because I am not very interested. If necessary, I will work, if not, I won’t. I don’t make a problem out of it.
– Have you ever seen a similar noise during your career?
– This is an unusual situation. I don’t even know… If we go back, we had to win against the Italians. I really hoped we would win. We lost. But we didn’t lose the whole thing, we were 3-3, everything was as expected. But the noise started. It had started earlier. If you look back at my life… I saw when everyone praised the national team, 100,000 waited at the airport, and there were times when they were met at the airport shouting “shame, shame.” Such things have happened, it’s not new. Most likely it will be like that. I don’t think it’s right. Men come, play, sometimes succeed, sometimes not. But shouting “shame, shame” at the airport is not right.
– Did you have to calm the players during this window?
– I don’t know, you can’t get inside everyone’s mind. I think such things affect the team – either directly or indirectly. A calmer atmosphere would probably be more comfortable to prepare for the World qualifiers. We faced such a situation, so we have to prepare under such conditions.
The men worked well, I have no doubts. I didn’t notice any hesitation in what they do. Today we saw how we fought. Everything is pretty good. Turkey was a slightly different caliber team, different speeds. We just couldn’t manage. But we shouldn’t be condemned for meeting a better team. We weren’t condemned when we once lost by 50 points against the USA dream team. Everyone understood at that time that these are different levels. Everyone accepted it as a given. Yesterday one of your colleagues asked if I would resign tomorrow. I don’t even know why, because we hadn’t played the game yet.
I saw an article when we played against Arizona or Michigan. There was an article after two quarters saying we played very badly and lost, and after the game the article was removed. I don’t think that’s right. Do you really wish such bad things for the national team? I am talking about humanity. So our Lithuanian national team. We don’t defend some yard, we defend Lithuania’s honor. The men try, fall, get injured. I don’t know, I don’t think it’s good.
– Why do you think someone wishes bad for the national team? Can the problem be solved if its cause is not identified?
– The problem must be identified and then solved. I am for that. Probably you and I know where all this comes from. I mean – how long this has been going on. I do not influence the federation president elections. They called me, said they were forming the national team and asked if I would come. I came. We played well at the European Championship, we could have done better. You can always do better. Now we play worse. That’s how it is. And that someone elected or re-elected something wrong… I don’t participate in such things. I am busy, I have a lot of activities, I have five grandchildren. I have things to do. I also have five puppies.
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