Group A, Day 4: Lithuania vs. USA

[jiggawhat]

If FIBA really wanted to turn international basketball in the NBA ball they would push back the 3-point line. That alone would change everything.

[Raze Lupin]

If FIBA really wanted to turn international basketball in the NBA ball they would push back the 3-point line. That alone would change everything.

Are you missing the word "to"? I'm confused. What are you trying to say?

[NorCal]

1) This is def not the dream team but its a great group of guys who showed up to play for their country and are doing a good job despite holes in the roster mainly due to injury.

2)Although what you say about NBA rule changes effecting how NBA teams are formed is true. I believe you are wrong how that effects the formation of this 2012 NT. The main reason that this team is unbalanced is because of injury. The secondary reason is selection. Dwight Howard was out because of back Surgery. Chris Bosh abdominal strain. LaMarcus Aldrige had surgery on muscles connected to his hip. Blake Griffin power forward had to leave camp because of knee injury(that needed surgery). Amare Stoudmire and Davis Lee had been excluded from the pool in 2010, 2012 because of their injuries. Lamar Odom backed out. DeMarcus Cousins didn't make the cut. So if you're saying USA chose this team because of NBA rules you are wrong. Colangelo would love to have a Howard or LeMarcus Aldridge on this squad.

3)Every quote I've read said USA expected a fight from Lietuva. There may have been a some psychological let down after the insane shooting performance against Nigeria. Yet there seems to be no cockiness due to over confidence. Coach K has been quoted several times as saying "I tell the guys no one is scared of you. They think you are weak [in the front court]...they are going to come after you." after the game Chris paul said "We knew this was going to be a grind...we just had to grind it out". No way USA thought Lietuva would be easy. I do think after playing Tunisa and Nigeria could have had some subconscious effect. Certainly disrespecting an opponent wasn't in the strategy.



What James mostly did late in the fourth was too isocentric to last an entire game. He may be the best player on the planet BUT his game nature is more like Magic Johnson than MJ or Kobe. He is a point forward, a facilitator. You act like James has been lazy or ineffective. During the French game he controlled the offense for spans. He does whats needed when its needed. He shouldn't have to do much more. He shouldn't have to lead the team in play-making, rebounds, scoring and assist. Which is close what he did late in the fourth. James not being selfish and letting the game flow naturally and the team evolve is his greatest asset.

I agree with you that the USA bigs have been decimated by injury but my point, which I did not make clearly, was that we lack big, dominant back to the basket post players that we can run an offense through. Even the guys you listed- Howard, Bosh, Aldridge, Griffin, Stoudemire, Lee, Odom, Cousins- I'd say only Howard and Cousins are true back to the basket big men in the mold of the old timers I mentioned like Olajuwon, Shaq, Duncan. Big guys these days like Bosh, Aldridge, Griffin, Stoudemire, etc. like to face their man and either hit the 15 foot jump shot or take their defender to the basket. And I think that is an indication of the rule changes and the direction the league is going. My point with my original post was that this facet of basketball- a true big man who you can dump the ball down to in the post and work off of (thereby playing 'inside-out' basketball) is all but dead in the NBA and those guys used to be a big part of our national teams back in the 90s.

As for the Lebron stuff- I don't think he has been lazy at all just a little too willing to let other guys get their touches. Simply put, he should have the ball in his hands more often and we should be moving and cutting like crazy off of him. We shouldn't be consistently running any type of iso offense no matter who has the ball. And he has not been ineffective, in fact, he has been very effective as one of the few guys who consistently takes it to the basket instead of settling for jump shots. I'm just asking for him to do it more.

[Terrorizer]

Terrorizer

How it's possible to say that Lithuanian basketball team never was great? Go and see at least 2003-2004 team with young Jasikevicius, Siskauskas, Macijauskas, Stombergas...and not good coach at all...IMO the best European basketball team in 21st century.

Dreamcatcher, the Lithuanian NT of 2003 was a very good team and most probably the best in your history. But it wasn't dominating Euro basketball as some of Lith posters here are trying to convince us - almost the same Saras-Saulius-Siska-led team (only without Macas) was 12th out of 16 in the EuroBasket 2001. In 2003 your team won it all in a convincing fashion at EuroBasket but it wasn't the best in Europe no roster-wise no play-wise - at the very least Spain and Italy of that period were better teams but Lithuania just managed to be a team with the great chemistry, huge determination and it was in its top form which happens really rare in major tournaments. So it's a great success for Lithuanian basketball but to call that team the 'best European basketball team in 21st century' is a huge overstatement. No way it can match Spain mid 2000s or even Greece and Russia in their top 2000s rosters. And I don't see Italian and French teams of early 2000s (the first one with Fucka, Myers, Basile, Bulleri, Galanda, Markonato, Kiachig, Pozzecco, the second one with Rigaudeau, Sonko, Risacher, Foirest, Digbeau at their prime) as worse teams than that Lietuva. And, well, I forgot about Serbia which was not a team to fool around with. Lithuania is almost always was on the brink of (or even in) Top 8 of European and World basketball which is a huge achievement for such a small country but it never was one of the three best teams even in the Europe alone. Well, you are free to think whatever you want but I think that my opinion on Lith team (which is a high one really, I respect many Lithuanian players and the way some Lith national teams have played) is also far from nonsense. I just think that all of the countries like Spain, Russia, Italy, Serbia, France, Greece used to have at some point in 2000s (or sometimes have currently) the better teams than any Lithuanian NT in all its history. Results are what the general audience remember but I care even more about the way team plays and its potential: f.e., Turkey won the silver medals twice in 2000s (both times at the home court - surprise, surrrise ) but objectively speaking it's not even in Top 10 in Europe.

very good post with plenty of insightful ideas...

Thanks, madmax. I guess this is not a situation of the Russian proverb 'kukushka khvalit petukha za to, chto khvalit on kukushku' but I really like to read your posts here - in my eyes, you're the most knowledgeable and interesting to read among Lithuanian posters.

that said, I think you are underrating your russian team and it's guards quite a bit really - Fridzon and Ponkrashov are brilliant players in FIBA game and if they will manage to take care of the ball (which lithuanian guards are incapable of doing), then your chances of beating this lackdaisical unstable USA team will increase substantially.

No, I think you've understood me wrong at least partially. I simply can't underestimate Vitalik Fridzon cause he is one of my absolutely favourite players overall for quite a some time But Fridzon is a pure SG, he is a very good in making assists and sharing the ball playing on his position but he can't organize the game handling the ball most of the time as a real PG must do - he never played this role and most probably would fail if he is encouraged to play it without any training for this - the fact is that with our lack of proper PGs Shved and Bykov who are also much more SG than PG play the 1 number in NT and Vitalik never did it. Ponkrashov is sadly an another story: I think, he has a huge talent and when he's on fire he is one of the best PGs for international game out there but his problems are mostly psychological and he is very unstable. You can't fully rely on him since you never know which one of his selfs would play today on the court, Dr. Jekyll with brilliant assists and classy slashes to the basket or the turnover-machine Mr. Hyde who is banging the ball for no reason for 15 seconds and when with the possession time expiring giving the ball to the guy who is in awkward situation for taking the shot.

You already have advantage inside with Mozgov, AK and Kaun against any team in this tournament (bar maybe only Spain), so pounding USA's weakest link will make them panic to begin with. Having a reliable guard support will only make things easier for you. Although I personally believe that Spain are still more than capable of beating americans too if they have an inspired day from the perimeter...we'll see I guess

I hope you're right but still US has a plenty room for the improvement in their defensive aspects (and they can do it) and there is always a risk that your team, no matter how good is it in reality, will come to the court against Americans emotionally drained and washed-up with thoughts like 'well, it's the team USA with LeBrons, Melos and Durants, we simply can't offer them a good resistance'.

How can you say Spain 2006 would be favored over this USA team? Hopefully not with a straight face.

With all my sincerity. I should gave Spain of 2006 a slight advantage over USA of 2012 - let's say, 52 to 48. Not that Spain of 2006 has such an offensive firepower as the current US NT, far from that, but Spain of 2006 was one of the most clever and intellectual teams I've ever saw in my life and it most probably can compensate the lack of LeBrons and Durants in the international basketball.

And yet Americans don't respect fiba right.

Well, it's your choice - be a close-minded person or be ready to encounter and embrace something different from what you're used to see on everyday basis. While I like the European basketball the most (and I believe for some other reasons than the fact that I'm from Europe) I certainly can enjoy something entirely different - well, actually I watched AfroBasket 2011 with a solid level of interest and excitement.

But a team's greatness can only be defined in terms of the results achieved.

I can't agree with that Yes, the results is what we remember the most but the way team plays is what I value even more than its actual results. I think we agree that neither football Greece in 2004 nor basketball Turkey in 2010 were the great teams but the first one showed the best result in Europe and the second one was the second all over the world behind only USA.

You seem to be looking at teams as only the sum of their parts and are thus underrating Team Lietuva.

I try to do the opposite but maybe sometimes ain't exactly successful with that

Without the population for a deep talent pool, the Lithuanian basketball program's focus has always been to create teams that are better than the sum of their parts. That's the job of the coach. Granted, that's the job of every coach everywhere, but it's difficult to deny that Lithuanian national team coaches over the years have done a much better job than most into melding the players available into a team that's greater than the sum of its parts.

Yeah, I kinda agree with you but the one must remember that the basketball is the most popular sports in Lithuania and it's nowhere near that levels of popularity in, say, Spain, Russia or France where football reigns supreme. So the percent of the talented Lithuanian guys who try to pursue basketball is much higher than the same number in Spain or Russia. Yet your results (and the level of players also) in basketball are still a huge achievements for such a small country, no doubt about that.

About your second point, I also mostly agree with you. Traditional Lithuanian organization of the game and discipline are very good but the thing that is the most valuable in your countries successes in basketball, imho, isn't that - Liths aren't some kings in tactics and coaching in Europe, they aren't most clever team here and never were, but most of the time they are one of the most fierce, dedicated, psychologically prepared and hungry for the victory teams out there (sadly in the recent times these qualities significantly deteriorated). And in my eyes these are the main reasons of Lith successes - what they lack in talent and intellect (not that I say they haven't any, far from that) they make up for with their will to fight till the last, playing as an integral team and determination. That's why many in the world feel sympathy for the Lithuanian teams - cause people love when they see that players give all they can on the court.

A couple things- I don't always agree with things you write Terrorizer but I have to give you props for this post. It was very well stated. Thanks for backing us Americans on interbasket up, feels nice since many posters try to lump all of us under the "ugly American" umbrella the minute an American with 8 posts who just signed up to the site to talk trash for a couple of weeks badmouths the European contingent.

It's a normal thing not to agree on the other's thoughts - we all have our opinions and preferences and it would be very boring if there was an uniform consensus on every major basketball topic Still I'm glad you liked my post.

Also, this team is not the Dream Team.

I'm not investing some additional sense in the words 'Dream Team' - I used to call that any USA NT composed mostly of NBA superstars just as I call Spanish football NT 'La Furia Roja' or Swedish ice hockey NT 'Tre Kronor'. I'm not drawing direct parallels to the 92 US NT or something. Maybe I'm wrong with that but it's just a force of habit, I guess

I think what we are seeing with the roster of this 2012 team is the effect that the rule changes in the NBA have made on the league as a whole. Because of the rule changes 10 years ago our NBA game is now dominated by fast perimeter players who can take the ball to the basket and finish with strength. The rules have made true post players less effective and has given rise to a lot of big men who play further on the perimeter than the PFs and Cs of old like Shaq, Olajuwon, Ewing, Duncan, Robinson. GMs across the league have slowly been figuring this out and that is why we see so true Cs and PFs that are dominant anymore and is the main reason Team USA is made up of so many wings and guards. The Dream Team in '92 and even the the '94 and '96 teams were better balanced and therefore more effective for international rules- they could dominate on the perimeter as well as in the post. I think our strength in the post in particular was hard for other teams to handle.

Yes, it's a strange thing - aside from Howard current NBA has almost none old-fashioned big guys dominating in the paint back to the basket like it was in the past, the game became much more backcourt-oriented and lost some of its gritty charm but mostly these changes didn't invest it with additional thoughtfulness because it's still very much based on isolations and individual 1-on-1 plays or dribbling the ball to create one's own shot.

ok, I have something to say about some other reasonable posts here but it would done my own post too long (it's already too long, I guess) so all I would do is only to try to repel some of the bullshit thrown at me by some too sensitive Lithuanian guys.

Is that terrorizer guy a Russian nationalist/Lithuanian hater?

Ja, ja, ja, you nailed it. I am a Russian crypto-fascist nationalist! That's why I hate NBA - the only reason is that there are too many dirty niggaz in it. And I forgot another reason: every Russian nationalist must hate anything American - be it Faulkner or the author of the 'Twilight' (forgot her name), Anacrusis or J-Lo, never mind, as long as it's coming from this Empire of Shit (a.k.a. Pindostan) I profoundly hate it. But my hate for America is nothing compared to my hate of Lithuania. I root against Russian women handball team with passion just because there is that Lith girl Vika Zhilinskayte in it. And she was born in some oil-extracting shithole in our Far North. Damn, fucking Liths are everywhere: they sneaked all across the Mother Russia! These bastards are in the secret union with Uzbeks to make us, mighty and proud Russian people, slaves in our own land, they want us to serve them as their lackeys and whores. Damnit, even in my local village in Tver region there is a big family with Lithuanian roots, greedy Kasparases and Kasparenes, every time I made some purchase in their small home shop I secretly spat on their threshold because they are damned Liths and always keep on jewing unsuspecting Russian people. Fucking Liths, how much I hate them! Every time any Lithuanian team loses in some kind of sports (well, most probably it's basketball 'cause these bastards can't play any other kind of sports better than Luxembourg aside from that swimming sloppy schoolgirl Rita Me-love-titties who is actually from UK, so forget about her) me and my family have a bloody feast - we are all drinking good old kvas, cursing that old fart Vytautas from the XIV century and telling each other how Lithuanians are all dumbfucks and idiots. But the person from my family who gets the most joy when Liths lose in sports is our tame Russian bear Mikhal Mikhalych who lives on the balcony 'cause he knows he will eat some delicious Lithuanian babies meat and these babies are stolen by the FSB (heir to the KGB!) agents from the families of the most passionate and patriotic Zalgiris fans in Kaunas.

Well, you're suspecting I'm thinking like that, really? I'm sad to disappoint you but I am a staunch internationalist who believes that one must not make a judgement on a person because of his race, nation, religion, etc. Yes, we all have our sympathies and antipathies
in the current politics of some states, some features of the national mentality of the given nation maybe unsympathetic to us and some others are likeable but the truth is that we are all people and we must search for the things that unite us not divide. There are many Lithuanian stupid bastards, there are many Russian stupid bastards, many of these bastards like to throw the shit in one another for some old historic grievances totally irrelevant to the today's situation or because of chauvinistic prejudices or inferiority complex and that kind of stuff. And there are many reasonable Lithuanian guys and there are many reasonable Russian guys - these fellas can always have a nice conversation talking respectfully and tactfully about basketball, music, literature, hell, even history and politics. That's all boiled down to this. And finding virtual enemies, your countries haters and so on is not a very good sign considering one's psychic health.

ok, let's go on the other misinformed opinions you wrote

Saying that Russia was the main opponent for USA in mid 90's (wtf?) and then that Lithuania never was a great basketball country?

I don't mean that Russia was the only one main opponent for the USA in mid 90s. I mean it was one of the hardest for the US in that given period. Alongside with Croatia (mostly in the 'early mid' 90s) and Yugoslavia (mostly in the 'late mid' 90s). I wouldn't bother with the rankings among these three but in my eyes these teams were the leaders of the continental basketball at that period and provided the best resistance to the American teams internationally. Lithuania wasn't too far behind (but definitely was significantly behind) but it lacked depth and most of its leaders were past their prime which happened to be in the late 80s - very beginning of 90s. I think that many Lithuanian fellas here are too young to remember those times correctly (well, even an oldie like me was still a school kid at that time) but let's look on Russian results in those mid 90s: from 93 to 98. 1993: the silver of the Eurobasket lost to the German hosts in a tragic fashion. Croatia was third, Yugos didn't play (due to the sanctions, I guess). 1994: the silver of the World championships. We've lost to the Team USA made out of NBAers with Shaq and Reggie starring in the finals. Croatia was third once again. 1995: the biggest (and maybe the only definite) fail of that team - loss to your team in QF and the 7th place in the final standings. So we've lost our chances to make it to the Olympics and if that team (Bazarevich, Karasev, Mikhaylov, Fetisov, Kudelin and others) could participate at Atlanta tourney it would be a strong medal contender. 1997: bronze of EuroBasket. Good group stage showing including humiliating blow-out 93-64 to the mighty Team Lietuva. Three-points win over Spain in QF, three-points loss to Italy in SF, blow-out win in a bronze game against Greece. Eventual champion was Yugoslavia, Italy was second. 1998: silver of the World Championship. Due to the NBA lock-out team USA was made out of guys playing in NCAA and Europe so there is not a big deal in our semifinals win over them but maybe our QF result which was 82 to 67 over Lithuania will impress you. In the finals we've lost the title to Yugoslavia with Dejan Bodiroga who was in a godly shape in a two-point game. That's our results in the time period I meant - mid 90s, 1993 to 1998.
If these achievements don't constitute one of the very best European national teams of its time then... well, I would remain speechless.

Just for the sake of it look at the medal list of Lithuania and then at the medal list of Russia.

Ok, let's take a look. I bet you didn't done it 'cause if you did you wouldn't write that statement in such a tone. Let's compare the medal list of Lithuania and the medal list of Russia since 1993. In the major international competitions (Olympics, World Champs and EuroBasket) Lithuania has 7 medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronzes) and Russia has 6 medals (1 gold, 3 silvers and 2 bronzes). I don't see a crucial difference in these results. You've done better in the Olympics - three bronzes in a row, while we haven't Olympic success (our strongest teams in 90s surprisingly don't participate in it). World Champs are much better for us - we've got two silvers while you only managed to surprise the world with your bronze in 2010. EuroBasket results are mostly similar but we're slightly better - you won in 2003, we won in 2007, you've got a silver medal in 1995 and a bronze one in 2007, we've got a silver in 1993 and two bronzes in 1997 and 2011. So I wonder what are your conclusions after taking a look at the medals list of Lithuania and Russia?

[Terrorizer]

Oh and, USSR is not Russia, best players on that team were from Lithuania.

Yeah, USSR is not Russia but the second part of your statement once again proves that you have a very little knowledge about the basketball of the past What you've said is a partially truth for the mid to late 80s but history didn't began in 1982. Our greatest teams from the late 60s - 70s where we were the undisputed powerhouse of the continental basketball have only one Lithuanian, Modestas Paulauskas, in its rosters. Many ethnicities from all over the Soviet Union were represented but the leaders of those teams - S. Belov, A. Belov, Volnov, Edeshko, Zharmukhamedov, Myshkin, Tkachenko - are they all Lithuanians? Get a life, man, and try to stop writing misinformed bullshit. Well, even those teams from the late 80s weren't heavily Lith-dominated. Seoul 88 Olympic champions: 4 Lithuanians (among whom only Sabonis and Marciulionis were among the Top 6 in points per game), 5 Russians, 1 Ukrainian (or Jewish, I don't know what was the ethnicity of Belostenny), 1 Latvian and 1 Estonian. Who are you trying to fool?

Terrorizer makes a lot of false statements about Lithuanian NT and European basketball generally. I don't know why he gets so much attention here? Because he has Russia's flag in the corner and that's pretty rare in interbasket?

And you're always right in your statements, aren't you? Also you are very knowledgeable person and have the definite right to pass a judgement on the correctness of what I write.

And talking about Katelynas - well, I didn't see to much of him but this season he was pretty decent in fighting for the boards, wasn't too slow and could guard mobile PFs. And I remember exactly this from his European adventures of the past. His offense is mediocre, nothing to write home about and he wouldn't be an offensive weapon for the current Lithuanian NT with Kleiza always ready to play on his position. No he isn't some kind of defensive genius, far from that, but his personal defense was rather ok which we can't say about the current Songaila who can't guard anyone faster than turtle (luckily for him, there are many bigs slower than the turtle in basketball nowadays).

It looks like you have some sort of inferiority complex writing about flags-induced attention and so on. Or is it a simple petty jealousy?

Absolute unadulterated nonsense. Yugoslavia i.e. Serbia was Team U.S.A.'s most dangerous opponent at the time followed by Lithuania.

Well, I answered that earlier. Read it up. One hint from me: try to stay away from too categoric statements. Especially if you are not the most knowledgeable person in this field on the Globe

Ok, that's all from me. My post is as gigantic as one can imagine. I hope that parts of it would be funny for some as well.

[thegreekmeister]

Terorizer ---

Saying that Russia was the biggest USA oponent is just a joke.
Lithuania was the biggest USA oponent, I just saw stats on espn:
Since 2000:
Official games between LT and USA:
USA 4wins
Lt 1 win
average +4 points per game to USA
biggest win by USA +9 points
Does it get better than that against usa-nba team?
Whats Russia's result against team USA since mid 90's till now as you claim? Must be better than that for sure, since russia was the biggest oponent of team usa, LOL

---.

And hepcat is right, he may not be the best knowledgeable in this part of globe, but he is sure knowledgeable of team USA and its oponents. So when he says "Absolute unadulterated nonsense. " that means something.

[Hepcat]

every Russian nationalist must hate anything American - be it...the author of the 'Twilight'...J-Lo....

I'm with you on that point there. The Twilight series and J-Lo are almost enough to make me hate everything American.

These bastards(Lithuanians) are in the secret union with Uzbeks to make us, mighty and proud Russian people, slaves in our own land, they want us to serve them as their lackeys and whores.

What about the Chechens and Georgians though? Surely they'd be in on any kind of conspiracy against the Russian people. It's what they do, isn't it?

One hint from me: try to stay away from too categoric statements.

I'll limit myself to one then. The Olympics is the biggest stage of them all when it comes to basketball and Team Lietuva has been the single most successful European team at the Olympics since 1992.

[durden_tyler]

I'm with you on that point there. The Twilight series and J-Lo are almost enough to make me hate everything American.

i haven't read anything in-depth in this thread (though i learned a lot in a few that i did read) but would like to quote this particular post to agree with it. (i feel it's the most important post in this thread).

[Terrorizer]

Terorizer---

Saying that Russia was the biggest USA oponent is just a joke.
Lithuania was the biggest USA oponent, I just saw stats on espn:
Since 2000:
Official games between LT and USA:
USA 4wins
Lt 1 win
average +4 points per game to USA
biggest win by USA +9 points
Does it get better than that against usa-nba team?
Whats Russia's result against team USA since mid 90's till now as you claim? Must be better than that for sure, since russia was the biggest oponent of team usa, LOL

---.

And hepcat is right, he may not be the best knowledgeable in this part of globe, but he is sure knowledgeable of team USA and its oponents. So when he says "Absolute unadulterated nonsense. " that means something.

Well, such a bad-mannered boor like you doesn't really deserve the answer. Still you need to read posts paying some attention to its actual meaning and not to the phrases thrown out of context: I was talking about mid 90s when, imho, three teams stood out as the most dangerous opponents to the Team USA - Croatia, Russia and Yugoslavia (in alphabetic order). So all your bragging about official games between USA and Lithuania since 2000 is dumb 'cause the period under consideration was mid 90s.

Well, I'm fine with you staying sure that Team Lietuva scare the shit out of Team USA - the fools are comfortable with their illusions. At least, if no one ruins these illusions they stay unaggressive and don't engage in foul language attacks on others which is rather unpleasant thing to observe

Hepcat, of course, I joked in all my 'Russian nationalist passage' but the point that you outlined says exactly the opposite - USA in most peoples eyes is a country of disgusting shit of mass-culture, of all those 'twilights' and J-Los (and rightly so) but the one thing that is easy to forget is that quite paradoxically it's the country with the great achievements in the culture and science - they had writers like Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Thomas Wolfe, Dos Passos and many others, they have great scientists, well, they even have some of the greatest metal bands like aforementioned Anacrusis and a ton of others. So to hate all American (not paying attention to what it actually is) is a pretty stupid thing to do even for those who don't like their politics and widespread consumerist mentality.

I'll limit myself to one then. The Olympics is the biggest stage of them all when it comes to basketball and Team Lietuva has been the single most successful European team at the Olympics since 1992.

I am not with you on this one. I like the EuroBasket the most - Olympics and even World Championships always have too much good to great European teams missing and EuroBasket is the tourney where they all played. I think that the average level of participating teams and the level of the toughness of competition and hence the degree of unpredictability is the highest in the EuroBasket and that's why I like and value it most. And I'm happy with the recent expansion to 24 teams - despite the fears that there would be a little competitive toughness in the first stages there were enough sensational results, upsets and overall EuroBasket 2011 was one of the best in all its history. Though it's a pity that Argentina and maybe Brazil and Australia can't compete in it

[macleopard13]

The Olympics is the biggest stage of them all when it comes to basketball and Team Lietuva has been the single most successful European team at the Olympics since 1992.

Totally agree. No other existing European team made it to the semifinals five times in a row, and I think that that's quite an achievement for a small country. Not to mention, we have the most gold medals of all existing European nations in EuroBasket.

Russia would've been no way a big threat to Team USA in 1990s. The closest that they have ever come up as a threat was in 2010 (still, USA put the game away in the fourth quarter and Russia just made the score more respectable in the last seconds). When were we a threat to USA? In 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2010 (all the years we've met).

Just a correction, we lost to Team USA in 2010 by 15 points, so the largest lead should be +15 for USA.

I was talking about mid 90s when, imho, three teams stood out as the most dangerous opponents to the Team USA - Croatia, Russia and Yugoslavia (in alphabetic order). So all your bragging about official games between USA and Lithuania since 2000 is dumb 'cause the period under consideration was mid 90s.

Have you forgotten (or haven't you heard), Comrade Terrorizer, that we beat Team USA in 1998? 84-82, World Championship? No? What about the time we beat you in EuroBasket 1995 by an 11 point margin? And if you're talking about Top 3 teams, why not include Greece in the race?

1. Yugoslavia: 1st, 1st (average place: 1st)
2. Russia: 2nd, 7th, 3rd (average place: 4th)
3. Lithuania: 2nd, 6th (average place: 4th)
4. Greece: 4th, 4th, 4th (average place: 4th)
5. Croatia: 3rd, 3rd, 11th (average place: 6th)

Top 3 teams: Yugoslavia, Lithuania, Greece.

[madmax]

my fellow lithuanian patriots should really calm down and stop attacking our dear russian friend Terrorizer - he doesn't post misinformed BS and every single thing he said in this thread was correct for the most part. It's not a bad thing to bang your chest and be proud of your countries most prided and beloved sport, but belittling and cursing is really sinking into savage and brute territory. We don't really wanna be known as Baltic mindless hating idiots, now do we?

[Khalid80]

What Kobe said of the game against Lithuania (from his facebook page):

Tough game vs a very well balanced and coached team from Lithuania. They executed their game plan perfectly. Slow the game down, create a lot of foul situations and spread the floor with timely shooting. We responded to the challenge by creating a lot of turnovers and getting out on the break. We felt we had a mismatch with LBJ being defended by their 4 man, so we gave him the ball and told him to attack. That's exactly what he did and we came away with a gritty W. We should have another fun one vs Argentina next Can't wait.

[Hepcat]

USA in most peoples eyes is a country of disgusting shit of mass-culture, of all those 'twilights' and J-Los (and rightly so) but the one thing that is easy to forget is that quite paradoxically it's the country with ... some of the greatest metal bands like aforementioned Anacrusis and a ton of others.

While metal is not my cup of tea, my second favourite band of all time is American:

Though it's a pity that Argentina and maybe Brazil and Australia can't compete in it (Eurobasket)

A possible "solution" would be to invite two other countries to participate each time a Eurobasket is held as is done for the Copa América, the South American soccer championship. Mexico is also invited every time and one other team that has been having some degree of success internationally. The United States, Canada, Japan and Costa Rica have been among the other invitees.

[Raze Lupin]

What Kobe said of the game against Lithuania (from his facebook page):

Great post! Kobe and the rest of team USA understand the game of basketball. Hopefully we can get a gold medal.

[Hepcat]

(good job again Lihuania, I seriously have nothing but praise for your team and history in the sport...i will not praise your country however for its shitty food....

Yeah well I still say kugelis is the breakfast of champions!

...and the lithuanian girl i met by chance here in China 1 month ago and rejected me because I didn't have enough cash to slap dat ass!

That's not what I heard. What I heard is that you broke her heart and slapped her ass so hard you made her cry.