Lithuania against Argentina – recap
The crowds went wild in Istanbul, Turkey today when wild card entry and tournament underdogs Lithuania defeated Argentina. It was one for the history books, a game which sees these fighters enter the semi-finals of the FIBA Basketball World Championships for the first time ever.
Most of Argentina’s hopes were resting on the proven talent of 30-year-old, 6ft 7in, Luis Scola. He averages 30.3 points per game and that is the third highest in this competition's history, but today’s performance left many with a bad taste in their mouths. He missed seven of his first 10 attempts and finished the game with a paltry 13 points. Needless to say, the Houston Rockets forward is disappointed in his own performance and he wasn’t alone.
When asked what he thought of the match, Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said, “This game tonight, there was only one team on the court: Lithuania, they killed Argentina with defence, they ran the floor well and shot well. We could not stop them at any time.”
The first quarter saw Lithuania creating an 8-0 run, breaking past a one-point deficit and bringing the game’s total score to 17-10.
Seven of Lithuania’s players finished the game with a points score in the double figures. Linas Kleiza was the leader of that pack with 17 points. Martynus Pocius had a very respectable 16 points, as did Tomas Delininkaitis and Simas Jasaitis. But it wasn’t the individual play that elevated the Lithuanian squad up to semi-final status; it was the heart, and the team game.
Martynus Pocius is quoted as saying, “People thought we were an underdog coming in. The reason we’re in this spot right now is because of our team chemistry.”
For a period during the third quarter Lithuania was leading Argentina by a whopping 32 points, but Argentina managed to come back within fighting distance late in the fourth.
This was a high scoring game by anybody’s standards. And Lithuania really capitalized on their hot hands when they scored nine of their first 11 three-pointers. The match ended with a final score of 104-84 in favour of Lithuania.
Suffice it to say that defence was not on either team’s primary agenda, and Lithuania will have to make major adjustments if they can hope to take on the United States of America on Saturday.
Whatever the outcome of Saturday’s game, Lithuania truly performed beyond anybody’s expectations; they enter the semi-finals for the first time in their history. As usual, they are the underdogs, but that won’t be stopping them from giving it all they’ve got as they attempt to take a bite out of the current top dog, the United States of America.
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