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The hosts of the Group B “bubble” of the European Championship qualifying competition in Vilnius beat the Danes, who were considered clear outsiders before the tournament, just 77:76.
But even those victories were enough after biting the teeth of the stretched way to the final stage.
“It seemed like we had a pretty sure advantage within minutes of playing. So the Danes were lucky to hit a few shots, we made mistakes, we didn’t hit penalty kicks. In the end, he was a bit lucky, ”said J. Mačiulis, who scored 10 points and bounced 6 balls.
Only one other former member of the national team, Mantas Kalnietis, was more productive than him on Monday. His account has 6 assists and 11 points.
You won’t say they were of little consequence – the player helped quell the fierce Danish resistance in tough times. His best episode, however, was on defense.
It was M. Kalnietis 8 sec. until the final siren blocked Adama Darboe’s launch after the breakup that could have toppled Lithuania.
This was the last fight of the rivals above the navel and dancing like that; in the remaining moments, the Danes failed to even offend.
“I had already been overlooked, I lost my position … The coach somehow told me this morning not to jump that I was too old for that. But I’m jumping, and nothing,” smiled M. Kalnietis in the conference of press, looking at Darius Maskoliūnas, who was sitting next to him.
The 34-year-old defender did not want to agree with J. Mačiulis’s opinion about a more favorable fortune for Lithuanians.
“I don’t know, I even doubted it. Maybe I wouldn’t say that. He won stronger. But really, we can only take one ticket from this selection, and more, nothing good, the team captain didn’t wrap it in watts.” Unfortunately We didn’t want to win that way, but in a few weeks nobody will remember. “
M. Kalnietis admitted that the defense plan chosen by the Lithuanians was not effective this time, and he did not want all the difficulties to erase the burden of responsibility that was putting pressure on the team.
“Of course we have not been in a situation where we have to fight for a place in the European Championship at the last minute. But anyway, we have already seen a lot, both coaches and players, this is not the first time We face pressure Of course, it would be the biggest tragedy for Lithuania to run out of a tournament one summer, but you don’t think about that much in the square.
Non-difficult Danish pitches were the biggest problem. The problem was when they attacked on the loose or when they were punished in the most convenient way. In most cases, the end of the game is determined by serious mistakes, ”said M. Kalnietis.
And J. Mačiulis spared no compliments even without leader Gabrielius Lundberg to jump into favorites for the Danes.
“They play together for a long time, they know what to do. And we had 6-7 new basketball players in each selection “window”, we had to play every week. The pressure did its thing too.
The most important thing is that we won, we did the work. Let’s wait for the championship. The future needs to learn that it is necessary to leave the field after concentrating from the first minutes, from the first game ”, concluded the forward.
Defender Mindaugas Girdžiūnas and tall Regimantas Miniotas did not register for the last national team match.
We remind you that last November, the Lithuanians also sensationally lost their first match in Vilnius 76:80.
Together with Lithuania, the winner of Group C, Belgium (4/2), who already got a ticket last Saturday, and the Czech Republic, which will participate in the European Championship as host (2/4), enter the final . stage. The Czechs won the match between these teams on Monday with a score of 91:86.
The Old Continent Championships will take place from September 1 to 18, 2022 in the Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy and Germany.
After the restoration of independence, the Lithuanian team only missed the 1993 European Championship and then fought 12 times in a row in the final stage. In the last tournament, which took place in 2017, the team led by Dainius Adomaitis took ninth place.
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