End of Lithuanian Preparation: Maskoliūnas and Crushed Dominica Experiment / News

Lithuania’s men’s basketball team successfully completed preparations for the Tokyo Olympics selection.

Darius Maskoliūnas experimented with rotation by playing a small five and his students in the “Žalgiris” arena without much difficulty. 95:69 (25:22, 20:13, 28:17, 22:17) defeated the Dominicans, whom they also beat in the first mutual match on June 18 (95:65).

In the preparation cycle, the Lithuanians had three victories: the Dominican Republic was defeated twice and the Russian team (78:61).

Jonas Valančiūnas hardly passed on the parquet 11.5 minutesFor the rest of the time, the Lithuanians played in the center position, testing 207cm tall Gytis Masiulis and 208cm tall Regimantas Miniotas, who usually play in the heavy forward position.

Eimantas Bendžius, Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Tadas Sedekerkis played in fourth place; this rotation allowed Maskoliūnas students to use “Change everything” defense, where everyone can exchange defenders.

Masiulis scored 10 points in 16 minutes, bounced and lost 2 balls and had 4 assists.

Miniotas did not score for 16.5 minutes (0/1 dvit.), But bounced 6 balls.

Valančiūnas, who scored 11 of 12 points in the first half, also added 3 rebounds, 3 errors and a block.

“There were really very good moments both in defense and attack,” said coach Maskoliūnas after the victory. – But as everyone noticed … I don’t know, due to lack of emotion or concentration, we make mistakes at the beginning of the game, which is the worst option, but also decisions in attack. Two or three defensive mistakes, but then the tension subsides and suddenly the game picks up and levels off and we start to do what we want. “

“We are trying to make it clear that the time will come when we will not be able to touch those passages. The point is that errors will occur, but they cannot be two in attack and three in defense. We can’t afford it. We will try to eliminate it in such a short time ”, added the strategist.

Under the leadership of Valančiūnas, the Lithuanians started the game with 7 unanswered points, but the South American guests responded with a powerful 19: 7 stretch and behind Jonathan Araujas 5 points in a row and went ahead (19:14).

Awakened from a lethargic sleep, ours started the stage at the end of the first half, which increased to 20: 6 and gained a 9-point lead in the second half after Masiulis’s colón (34:35), which he held until the long break (45:35).

The Lithuanian basketball players started the third quarter with a 12: 6 thunderbolt and led by Lukas Lekavičius, who played 7 points, got a 16-point lead (47:31).

After the break, the Lithuanians missed long shots, during the third quarter two of them were stabbed by Tomas Dimša, one by Rokas Jokubaitis, Mantas Kalnietis and Lekavičius, and after 30 minutes ours had an advantage of 21 points (73:52 ).

The decisive quarter became a formality: ours increased the lead to 29 ta(92:63) at won an easy victory.

In this match, the Lithuanians lost their feet again in this match, Maskoliūnas students turned the ball over 21 times. Compared to the first match against the Dominicans, there are 7 times more errors.

In the winning match, the Lithuanians scored 18 of 22 doubles (81%) and 9 of 23 triples (29%).

One of the most productive winners was Dimša, who scored 13 points (1/1 double, 3/3 trit., 2/2 penalty) in 16 minutes, 1 rebound, 2 assists, one error and 3 fouls caused.

“It just came to our knowledge then. The first half is more difficult: we have no head, we have too much energy, we want to do everything from the first elections. But after that we fix ourselves a bit and run away, – said Dimša after the victory. – You need to play with more patience, turn that combination and the amount of errors will decrease. And now we are against the combination, trying to get somewhere and breaking agreements. “

Lekavičius added 13 points in 13 minutes.

Rokas Giedraitis also played a more successful game, accumulating 9 points (1/4 trit., 6/6 penalty), 2 rebounds and 3 interceptions, 3 assists and an error in 20 minutes.

“I appreciate it positively,” Giedraitis said of the game shown by the national team. – We are working hard and preparing, the game is improving. We have to hope for the best. “
When asked if there would be enough time in the preparation stage, Giedraitis said that the best should be hoped for.

“It just came to our attention then. As it will be, we will see that we still have time left. We will have four additional trainings, we will prepare for it further and we have to hope for the best,” Giedraitis added.

Domantas Sabonis and Marius Grigonis did not register the coaches of the Lithuanian team for tonight’s match.

The Dominicans will compete for the Olympic ticket in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and will face the Serbs and the Serbian hosts in Group A.

At that time, Lithuanians were fighting for the Olympics from June 29 to July 4 in Kaunas. Our group will meet Venezuela and South Korea in the group stage.

Lithuania: Tomas Dimša (3/3 trit.) And Lukas Lekavičius after 13, Jonas Valančiūnas 12 (11.5 min.), Rokas Jokubaitis 11, Gytis Masiulis 10, Rokas Giedraitis and Mantas Kalnietis (9th grade, 5th grade degree).) After 9, Eimantas Bendžius and Tadas Sedekerskis after 6.

Dominican Republic: Jonathan Araujo 15, Angel Nunez 10, Gelvis Solano 9 (4/11 dvit.).

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