After Danish lesson, Lithuanians hope to spit shame in a match with Belgium

Belgium, which won all three matches, now ranks first in selection group C of the European Championship, where each match becomes important for the Lithuanian team in order to reach the 2022 championship.

In group C, the Lithuanian team has achieved a victory against the Czech Republic, which will already enter the European championships as hosts.

So the Lithuanians have to overtake Belgium or Denmark, and these teams lost in the first round of the group competition.

Group C table

At the beginning of the year, Belgium lost 65:86, and last Friday, an even more painful slap for the Lithuanians was considered the outsider of the group Denmark, from which the men trained by Darius Maskoliūnas suffered a basketball bubble in Vilnius 76:80 .

“There is nothing to talk about many conclusions, everyone has to take responsibility and correct that mistake.” Because he is a “bidder”, shame – said Benas Matkevičius, assistant coach of the Lithuanian team, in preparation for Sunday’s game with Belgium in the capital. – Somehow you have to rinse and spit that taste out of your mouth. And it can only do so in victory.

Here, as in a match, after making a mistake, you cannot think about it for long, because there is another attack or defense waiting for you to play. We do it now too, we emphasize the Belgians. The past is the past, we emphasize the Belgian party, the same in Belgium, where we have also had an ugly performance ”.

Then earlier in the year, the Lithuanians played a similar lineup, plus they had Donatas Motiejūnas, who scored the most points (17) in attacks, but still lagged behind Belgium at the same time with an incomprehensible difference. 37 points during the debut of D. Maskoliūnas as head of the Lithuanian team.

After three halves, the dominance of the Belgians led by Croatian Dario Gjergja reached 34 points in the match with the spectators.

“Now we have to emphasize their physicality and not let them push us, because then they beat us,” recalled B. Matkevičius. – If we let it flood again, it will be difficult again.

The Belgians are such a team, they express themselves through defense. They jump, seize the ball and live off it in attack; they can run and collect easy points. When they light a flame, they get energy from a free bank, from a trainer that lights them.

Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Dario Gjergja

The team then takes another face. If the balls come together aggressively, they can run away.

So we will have to watch how to reduce our mistakes in attack, shoot good free kicks, stretch their defenses, not let them overwhelm us. And then defend yourself. “

At the beginning of the year, Retinas Obasohan scored 22 points in the Lithuanian basket.

Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Retina Obasohan

The athletic 188cm defender, who tried to establish himself in the NBA a few years after the NCAA, played against Bamberg Brose last season and is now represented by Mezburg ČEZ.

“He’s their leader and, of course, the perimeter pitchers – Pierre-Antoine Gillet and others,” noted B. Matkevičius. – You will need to somehow stop those leaders and prevent easy points from accumulating. They have lost several leaders, but the Danes have also lost several leaders, we saw what happened. “

The Lithuania – Belgium match starts in Vilnius – 7 pm 30 minutes.