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11.6 thousand in the final of the Olympic selection tournament. The Nemunas Island fans shook themselves to no avail: the deciding match was lost 85:96.
In the race for trading points, the hosts’ weapons were blocked in the third quarter. Darius Maskoliūnas’s pupils couldn’t rely on idle defense either, so they allowed the Slovenians to walk away by a double-digit difference, which was already too difficult to eliminate later.
“We got stuck in the attack, we did not put the balls up, the game stopped. Everyone tried to find the culprits, we pointed the finger at each other, which is the result,” commented Rokas Jokubaitis about the match break.
He wasn’t responsible for the supervision of Luka Dončičius, but no matter which teammate opposed the Slovenian basketball celebrity, he almost always had to be disappointed.
The defender scored a powerful triple-double: 31 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists.
“Impressive. We all know that it needs to be stopped, but when a person collects those statistics in the final, what will you not say here?” R. Jokubaitis bowed his head.
Although L. Dončičius did not send Kaunas to despair alone, this time individuality won against team play.
Up to ten basketball players stood out in the Lithuanian ranks, three scored 14 points each.
Among them, Captain Mantas Kalnietis, who is the only one in the team who can still at least vaguely remember the times when Lithuanian basketball was not in the Olympic arena, because there was still no independent Lithuania.
It was difficult for the 34-year-old defender to describe what it means to have broken a series of seven consecutive Olympic Games appearances.
“I’ve never been in such a situation. Well, such a life, such a sport. Unfortunately, this time we lost.
It is true that the Slovenians played a little better and more intelligently, they deserved to win. The biggest problem was defense. Very sad what you will say here. Big disappointment for everyone, for all of Lithuania. Of course, we are unhappy, sad. But we are not going to kill now. The Lithuanian team is always like a family: we both celebrate victories and lose together, now we are all to blame. From the coaches to the players and the bus driver, ”said the player.
His career The Lithuanian team started at the 2006 World Cup in Japan, but after 15 years it will not be necessary to return to the Land of the Rising Sun.
However, M. Kalnietis did not follow in the footsteps of coach D. Maskoliūnas, who said goodbye to the national team immediately after the match and claimed that he had not decided when to score.
“I am happy to be able to help the team with something else. I will definitely not make a decision now, no matter how sad this final was, ”said the veteran.
In the final, for the first time, the Žalgiris Arena was filled to the maximum as allowed by the legal acts approved by the Government: 11.6 thousand people watched the decisive match. viewers, who accounted for 75%. in all the seats in the stands. Among them are President Gitanas Nausėda, former national team defender Rimantas Kaukėnas, Kaunas Žalgiris coach Martinas Schiller, Slovenian basketball stars Goranas Dragičius and Radoslav Nesterovičius, who returned after their holidays in Mallorca.
The Lithuanians had also faced the Slovenians on the Olympic team in 1992; then the 90:73 winners of Vladas Garast lifted their tricolor for the first time at the Barcelona Olympics.
In general, after the restoration of independence, Lithuanian basketball players had not missed any of the Olympics, where they appeared seven times in a row and won three sets of bronze medals.
In turn, the Slovenians await their debut on the Olympic park.
We remind you that the Lithuanian team beat Poland in the semi-finals of the qualifying tournament 88:69, before they beat Venezuela (76:65) and South Korea (96:57) in the group stage.
Slovenia defeated Angola (118: 68), Poland (112: 77) and Venezuela (98:70) in Kaunas.
The Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8. Slovenia will start in Group C with Spain, Argentina and host Japan.
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