Bronze in the World Basketball Championship

VILNIUS - Lithuania is rather used to bronze medals in basketball in the Olympics (1992 Barcelona Games, 1996 Atlanta Games and 2000 Sydney Games, and it was close to the bronze (fourth place) in the latest two Olympics), but now it has moved into the Bronze Age also in the World Championships. Two previous participations in the world basketball championships were less successful – they both resulted in gaining seventh place in what was, in fact, also a great achievement which other countries the size of Lithuania can only dream of.

On Sept. 9, the young Lithuanian team crushed Argentina, which is made up of stars of clubs in the NBA and Euroleague and have played together since 2002, winning almost everything that is possible to win. The final result of this quarterfinal was 104-85. Simas Jasaitis, who is not even signed by a club yet for next season, scored the most for Lithuania (19 points). He is usually a very modest man, but during that game he was roaring after his successful attacks like a wild animal. The rest of the team was in a trance of battle as well: Lithuania had seven players scoring in double figures.

Argentina’s Luis Scola of the Houston Rockets looked lost due to the perfect defense of Lithuania’s captain, Robertas Javtokas. Argentina’s Carlos Delfino, of the Milwaukee Bucks, stated before the game that Argentina has an advantage due to Lithuania missing its best stars at the championship. After the game, he obviously felt down, as well as the numerous fans from Argentina (more numerous in Istanbul’s Sinan Erdem Arena were only the Lithuanian fans, who were eager to spend some 6,000 litas (1,740 euros) each for such a basketball vacation). The Argentinean press and media were not harsh on their team – everybody understood that Lithuania was unstoppable during that quarterfinal.
“There was only one team on the court: Lithuania,” Argentina’s coach Sergio Hernandez said in the televised press conference after the game.

Lithuania was stopped on Sept. 11 during the semifinal match against the USA which, unlike in its previous games, showed everything that it can do. Lithuanian coach Kestutis Kemzura stated, on the eve of the match, that during Lithuania’s history, the Lithuanians were used to crushing armies outnumbering the Lithuanian army. However, the 9/11 of 2010 was bad for Lithuania, which did not demonstrate as ideal a basketball as it did in the match against Argentina. The USA won 89-74 due to its defense (the referees closed their eyes during some six or seven American fouls on defense, according to FIBA referee Virginijus Dovidavicius), and due to a victorious first quarter (23-12). During the second half of the game, both teams scored the same amount of points.

The USA was kind of a one man show on the attack - Kevin Durant, who was among the top 5 NBA players of the last season, scored 38 points. Durant also had nine rebounds. Lithuania’s leader, Linas Kleiza, the only NBA player of this Lithuanian team, was invisible. Andre Iguodala, with a little help from his friends, such as Chauncey Billups, the 34-year-old winner of the NBA final’s MVP in 2004, limited Kleiza to four points. In the past, Kleiza and Billups played on the same team, the Denver Nuggets. Javtokas, who scored no points in the game against Argentina, was the biggest contributor in the game against the USA (15 points). Martynas Pocius, who during four years was a Duke University guard, scored 13 points, impressing his former coach, Mike Krzyzewski, who is the Duke coach and, since 2005, the coach of the U.S. national team.

Kemzura refused to comment on the referees after the match and stated that the USA was the better team that night.
In another semi-final, Turkey defeated Serbia 83-82. Spain, which was the world champion before the championship in Turkey, was kicked out of the championship in the quarterfinals when it lost to Serbia by three points. In the bronze final of Sept. 12, Lithuania easily defeated Serbia 99-88. Kleiza scored 33 points. The USA easily won against Turkey in the final match – 81-64. During the award ceremony, when USA got the gold medals, Turkey got silver and Lithuania got bronze, all the Lithuanian players and coaches appeared with Lithuanian tricolor flags on their shoulders.

The analysis of results shows that Lithuania was worthy of silver in this championship but, unfortunately, met the USA in the semi-final. Although the USA and Lithuania played without their greatest stars in this championship and could have been called “USA B” and “Lithuania B,” those two young teams, due to their eagerness to battle, performed surprisingly better than all the former national teams of those two countries, except the Dream Team USA of 1992 and Lithuania of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

After the bronze final, Lithuanian cities and towns turned into cheerful and very patriotic chaos due to celebrations in the streets. The police were very liberal and tolerant. On late night Sept. 13, the Lithuanian team arrived at the Vilnius airport, from where it drove on the top of a special bus via the streets of Vilnius, where it was greeted by happy Lithuanians. The bus arrived at Rotuses Square in the Vilnius Old Town. More than 10,000 Lithuanians waving Lithuanian tricolors gathered in Rotuses Square and the surrounding area to greet the Lithuanian national basketball team, which returned from Turkey. The meeting was full of songs and cheerful speeches wishing Lithuania to win Europe’s gold medals, for the fourth time in EuroBasket 2011, which will be held in Lithuania.

“We are the great basketball empire!” stated pop star Dzordana Butkute, getting loud approval from the crowd.
“There is no doubt that we would have defeated the USA, if we would have played against the USA as we did against Argentina. Patriotism was very important for this Lithuanian team. They fought like lions, hungry for victories,” Sarunas Kliokys, president of the Lithuanian Basketball League, said in Rotuses Square.