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Laurynas Birutis resembled Gulliver in midwifery land between two less-aware Estonians, but this story had a different ending than Jonathan Swift’s novel.
Who would have said that the Lithuanian national team, which has a clear height advantage, is three points more than the hosts of the “Baltic Way” tournament, at which point the latter will win the fight for rebounded balls.
Inspired by Estonian basketball players and Kerras Kriisa, who has belonged to Kaunas “Žalgiris” for the past two years, Saku Suurhall threw an unforgettable birthday party for his fans, even in the middle of nowhere.
“The only positive thing is that we made Estonians a beautiful anniversary holiday.” We certainly didn’t want that, but it turned out that way. Nice match, with an extension, with a lot of emotion. And when it comes to the game, there are a lot more negatives, “joked Lithuanian team helmsman Darius Maskoliūnas after the game.
The numbers in the match protocol also surprised him.
“Being taller in all positions, we lost the fight ‘under the board’, allowed 23 points to be scored on the second try. Sometimes, it seemed like Estonians were much more willing, trying, climbing over their heads. And no we can pick up the ball that seems to be falling into our hands.
I don’t survive at all due to mistakes – we haven’t caught the rhythm of the game now, that’s normal. We really did enough “free” shots, and the people who had attacked. And anyway, we scored a lot of points in the attack. But we did not defend ourselves, we allowed the Estonians to control, to play the game. And if the result is the same in the last minutes, it is already a lottery. This time we had a chance to win it at the end of the fourth quarter with the last attack, but when we played outside, nobody will really whistle for such a foul.
And in the extension, K. Kriisa created shooting opportunities, showed that perhaps Kaunas was worth staying at. I tried, I played a good game, great. None of our defenses stopped him, he gave us a concert, “said D. Maskoliūnas.
– At the end of the game, you grabbed your head several times. Was it a reproach to the judges?
– It was an emotion. It seemed different to me to the judges, but I really have no complaints about it, everything is fine.
– Can it be said that Estonians had more motivation, similar to the Belgians in their debut match last February?
– No, don’t compare this game. There was a selection, here was a friendly tournament. The fact that Estonians play at home wanted a good performance. Also, they have been training since May, getting to know each other perfectly. You see them move in the square and they understand each other.
– Did your team lack a leader?
– As I mentioned this morning, I wanted to give Eimantas Bendis more time in this match, because he will not be there on Saturday. Those leaders played, but missed good shots. See for yourself what percentage. But I don’t blame anything at all, the problem was that we didn’t defend and beat the ball.
– Does this failure in any way change the plans for the match with the Latvians?
– Not at all. We will continue experimenting, we will test all five.
– How did rookies Tadas Sedekerskis and Marekas Blaževičius fit into the national team game?
– I have no complaints about Marek, young player, the first game, I would say, he looked pretty bad. There were tactical errors, but I don’t see any problems: try it, it works well during training, it improves. I think it will be a strong pillar of the team in the future. A little harder, we push him through some positions so he doesn’t feel his real place in the square. But I have no big claims.
– How does it feel to be in the game again after quarantine?
– Very funny. Although it is a friendly match, but the emotion is completely different. We were still playing with the audience, so it’s great to have that opportunity.
7,000 There were around 1,500 people at the Saku Suurhall Stadium on Friday. people – counting not only spectators, but also teams, judges, journalists, service personnel.
Legislation restricting public events on the pandemic still prevented the Estonian Basketball Federation from accepting more hearings.
Estonian Prime Minister Juris Ratas and Executive Director of the International Division of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA Europe), Kamil Novak, were in the front row.
The Lithuanian national team was supported by several dozen more active fans and several dozen more fans wearing green shirts, scattered in other sectors.
Neither they nor local fans bothered with the optional quarantine attribute: skins.
On Saturday, starting at 7:30 p.m., the Lithuanian national team will play another match, this time with the Latvian representative team.
Lithuanians arrived in Tallinn without Artūras Gudaitis and Arnoldas Kulboka: the former did not pass a medical examination at the Zenit club in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the latter did not fully recover from the injury and received recommendations from the Bilbao Basket (Spain) not to play in the tournament.
Eimantas Bendžius, who will leave the Estonian capital earlier for personal reasons, will not be in the match against the Latvians. Then D. Maskoliūnas will have to finish the competition with ten students.
The international “Baltic Way” tournament in Tallinn is organized on the occasion of the Estonian basketball century.
The origins of Estonian basketball go back to 1920, although the starting point can be found as early as 1913.
It was then that the young people who came to Narva from the Majak club in Saint Petersburg demonstrated to the Estonians for the first time how to play basketball. In one of the capitals of Tsarist Russia, the Americans had previously introduced the rules of the new sport.
However, in Estonia, the history of basketball has been calculated by convention, as the basics of basketball and volleyball were taught in two schools in Tallinn.
The Estonian Basketball Federation was founded in 1923, in 1934 it was admitted to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), and two years later, the national team appeared for the first and only time at the Berlin Olympics, where it occupied the 9th place among 21 teams.
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