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Our team beat Poland 88:69 (23:19, 23:26, 16: 6, 26:18) in the semi-finals.
During the first half of the match, Lithuania allowed the Poles to score up to 45 points. Still, after the break we saw a completely different defense: the Poles did not score a point for more than five minutes, finally scoring only 6 during the entire half and 24 in the second half of the match.
“We started on defense without being aggressive enough, we only committed 5 fouls in the first twenty minutes. Many easy points, many pitches that we had agreed not to allow and difficult. After the break we were already defending perfectly, some sections were incredible. This is how we have to play. We know that we will not be able to let the rivals do that tomorrow. We have to get to the same defense as in the second half of the match, “said D. Maskoliūnas after the match.
In the final, Lithuania will face Slovenia, which will take place on Sunday at 7.30pm. The winner of this battle will receive the right to participate in the Tokyo Games, which will begin on July 23.
Here it will be necessary to stop L. Dončičius, who has 18 points, 10.7 assists and 7 rebounds in this selection.
“I think the final will be the most important defense. They have a player who stops, very strong. We have a plan, we will try to minimize fouls against him and his transmissions. Luke is a triple-double with a 30-point NBA player. I do not expect miracles tomorrow, we will have to stick to the plan and so on.
I’m not a magician, Dončičiai is trying to stop the strongest players in the NBA, but not everyone is doing it right. I have no miraculous powers and we fully understand their caliber. From it come not only points, but also provoked transgressions, it happens. You want to make him feel as comfortable as possible. That is our task. I know our players are ambitious and each of them has to want and I think they want to show that it is possible to stop Luke as much as possible. He does everything and we can’t let him do it.
We have many places to attack, where we can punish them and we will try to do it, “said the coach about the final wait.
D. Maskoliūnas started the game with the Poles with a somewhat unusual five: Arnas Butkevičius played in it for the first time, and the front row consisted of the two NBA towers: Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valančiūnas. They played together longer throughout the preparation and period of the tournament. We will see them both in the final of the fifth against Slovenia.
“We will definitely see them together tomorrow, because that’s our attacking force. They don’t have players of this caliber that they can build against J. Valančiūnas or D. Sabonis. We need to agree on defense because we know the profile of their great players. We will change. of opinion, we will look around us, but the fact that we will hit them ”, revealed D. Maskoliūnas.
Watch the most beautiful episodes of the match:
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