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The Lithuanian team will face the Polish basketball players in the semifinals, who beat Angola 83:64 on Tuesday and lost 77-112 to Slovenia on Thursday.
“The game was not perfect, but we know what awaits us, and with good humor we have to look forward. Poland is a good team, well trained. I know many national basketball players because I worked in Poland. We know the places where we can punish them, so we have another day of preparation, I think we will be in a good mood for the fight, ”said Darius Maskoliūnas, the 50-year-old coach of the national team, after the final. victory.
The Lithuanians started the match again visually. Mantas Kalnietis’ passes flew by, and on defense the Lithuanians had a hard time stopping rival leader Gunas Rą. The latter scored 18 points in the first half of the match alone.
The D.Maskoliūnas students’ game came to life a bit when Rokas Jokubaitis and Lukas Lekavičius entered the field. Defenders cut through opponents defense quite easily thus creating more dynamics and room for team play – 49:34.
“I think you also had moments where the whole team looked good. Of course, Rock knows how to show that joy in basketball. But the whole team looked pretty good both in defense and attack. Of course, now there will be much more talented competitors, there are still many details that we can improve ”, the strategist was not very happy.
In the second half, the Lithuanian game looked much faster, and several lightning attacks further increased the lead to 60:36.
At the end of the match, D. Maskoliūnas also tried several five, when Gytis Masiulis took the center forward position and Arnas Butkevičius took the heavy position.
“As I told the men in the locker room, no matter what opponents we play with, we lay the groundwork, which is very important. At the moment we are defending ourselves very solidly, we have plans for what we risk, what we do not give, so according to the statistics we see what we have accomplished.
These games perhaps gave more confidence to those who played less. Now the playoffs are approaching, where we will have to give away 100% “, said the strategist.
The semi-final match with the Polish team at the Kaunas “Žalgiris” stadium will take place on Saturday.
