GDANSK, Poland — The Latvian and Lithuanian men’s basketball teams got off to the worst possible starts at EuroBasket ‘09 on Monday, both going down in games they expected to win.
First up on the cards were Latvia, who were taking on their old rivals Russia in Gdansk. Russia has shown indifferent form as of late, including a winless build-up tournament in Rome. However, as defending champions, the Russians were not to be written off.
With over 3,000 Latvians traveling to the game, some could have been mistaken for thinking the game was taking place in Riga. The Latvians started slowly, going down 28-21 in the first quarter but a much better second saw the Latvians rally to be down by just three at half-time. Even at the end of the third-quarter, Latvia only trailed by six. They came out firing in the fourth quarter going on an 11-2 run lead by stalwart Kaspers Kambala to be down by just two (65-63) with just over four minutes remaining on the clock. With the crowd behind them, many sensed they had what it took to pull-off a huge come from behind victory. However, the hope was short-lived when Russia’s American import Kelly McCarty lifted the intensity to once again pull the game out of the reach of the Latvians as their shooting spree came to an abrupt end.
The young, inexperienced Russian team prevailed victorious with relative ease 81-68. Latvia’s NBA star, Andris Biedriņš was effectively shut out of the game by the Russians and managed just a lowly 6-point, 6-rebound return. Kambala lead the Latvians off the bench with 22 points. For the Russians, McCarty was the star with a 24-point, 9-rebound game.
Next up for the Latvians are the heavily-favored France who had a first up win over Germany (70-65), a team that easily beat the Latvians in Turkey just over a week ago. If Latvia are to stand any real hope then their chances lie in the ability to shut down France’s NBA star Tony Parker who scored his team’s final 11 points against Germany for a game-high total of 19.
Lithuania falters against Turks
After upsetting world champions Spain at home on Friday, Lithuania would have been expecting to get past the hurdle of Turkey with relative ease in Wrocław. Turkey has had an indifferent lead-up to the tournament, failing to make the playoffs of the build tournament it hosted, the Efes-Pilsen World Cup.
The gameplay was sloppy and rough, with both teams committed numerous errors, with missed passes, dropped balls and frequent fouls throughout. Lithuania committed 15 turnovers.
Up until the fourth quarter, the match was a close affair. Leading 19-22 after the first-quarter, the second reflected the first with the teams tied (39-39) going into the break. However, the Turks came out looking the stronger of the two teams in the second-half, pulling away to lead by five going into the final quarter (63-58).
The Lithuanians quickly pulled the lead back to two when Andrius Mažutis, landed a three but it was as close as the Lithuanians got to Turkey for the remainder of the game who lifted the tempo a notch, in the end cruising to a comfortable 8-point victory, 84-76. Marijonas Petravičius top-scored for the Lithuanians with a game-high 21.
Things do not get any easier for Lithuania today when they meet tournament hosts Poland, who defeated Bulgaria 90-78 on opening night. The Lithuanians will be looking at fine tuning their outside shooting in particular, after only returning 9 from 25 against the Turkish compared to the Turks’ 54 percent three-pointer completion rate.
