Lithuania’s Olympic run came to an end on Wednesday when they fell to Russia, the top seed in Group B. Based on group play, the result was predictable, but it still marked a game between two powerful nations that stood as one before the fall of the Soviet Union. This loss represents the first time in Lithuania’s history that the national team fell short of an Olympic semifinal berth. As for Russia, this is the first time they advanced to this late a stage since the fall of the Union.

For the young big man, Jonas Valanciunas, Wednesday was better. The Raptors rookie played a tournament-high 16 minutes and for the first time in London he was on the floor at the end of a close game. It was his best game of the tournament, even though it began just like every other game: with him in foul trouble, except this time he got to play more.

He started the game at center and immediately made an impact. He grabbed three rebounds, made a quick two and missed a dunk on a clear foul by Kirilenko, which was ignored by the referees. He was taken out of the game when he committed his first foul at the 3:42 mark of the first. Lithuania was up by one when he left the game and once he sat, Russia went on a 9-1 to end the quarter as the trio of Mozgov, Khryapa, and Kirilenko took care of every rebound available. The first ended 17-10 and it was obvious that Lithuania needed Valanciunas back in the game. Even Lithuanian insiders couldn’t figure out why Jonas Valanciunas sat the entire second quarter. Darius Songaila did a good job in the second, but he couldn’t battle by himself against the long and athletic Russian frontcourt.

It became worse when he didn’t even start the third quarter as Russia went up by thirteen as Timofey Mozgov began to assert himself in the proceedings. When Valanciunas came back at the four-minute mark of the third, Lithuania recovered from the deficit and ended the quarter down by only four. He grabbed three rebounds and blocked a shot in that brief period of time, and by that time, it became apparent that Valanciunas was the only one capable of contending with Mozgov in the key. And not just based on length, but for mobility and paint presence as well.

Coach Kemzura finally took notice and Valanciunas started a fourth quarter for a change. One thing you can’t deny from Valanciunas is that when he’s on the court, he makes sure you notice him. He’s extremely active on the glass, even when he’s battling alone between two or three opposing players. The man does not give up on a possession until it is absolutely over.

He made a quick hook at the shot clock buzzer that closed the gap to two; it was an impressive display of his quick hands, as he grabbed a loose ball and quickly made an unorthodox but effective shot.

He sat after committing his third foul and twisting his ankle. It didn’t look like the injury was serious; he just limped for a few seconds while he went to the bench. Russia took advantage and extended their lead once again. When he came back, the difference was nine and he made three of four clutch free throws to keep Lithuania in the game.

Finally, the coach decided to play the last minute and a half with his veteran lineup and Valanciunas watched his team lose from the bench. This game showed that he could have provided a helpful presence in this tournament if only he had the minutes.

Below are his game-by-game stats in a tournament where he averaged 4.2ppg and 4rpg in 11.6mpg. Overall, it was a good showing for him in a very competitive tournament. It was a terrific and invaluable experience for him, and when his country calls for him again, he will be ready. This time, however, he’ll get the minutes he deserves.

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Russia defended Valanciunas’ rolls to the rim with perimeter help from the weak side. You can’t do that with NBA shooters so expect Jonas to have more room to work as he makes his slashes to the hoop with his usually excellent footwork and agility. Plus, if Calderon stays on the team, look for him to develop a nice tandem in alley-oop situations. His game needs work, that’s obvious but Valanciunas has the tools to exceed at the next level. He’s not the average rookie center with huge size, he’s very athletic and coordinated given his experience, and also has a great heart and motor that pushes him to produce the best possible effort every time. That’s a great starting point.

As for the rest of the field, Spain beat France after finishing third in Group B. This win comes two days after a poor effort by Spain against Brazil that sparked lots of conversation. Spain gave up a 10-point fourth quarter lead and with the loss, Spain avoided USA till the final. The Spanish willingness to win was put question after that game.

France controlled the first half but Spain started the comeback and tied the game in the final quarter. Tony Parker and Nicolas Batum wasted the opportunity to take the lead back several times as France spent more than five minutes without a basket until Marc Gasol extend the lead and forced France to commit fouls. Then this happened.

In the next game, Argentina beat their South American rival, as Scola, Ginobili and company proved to be the San Antonio Spurs of national teams. They are considered an aging and declining team but they still figure out a way to remain elite every year. Barbosa scored 22 and lead Brazil’s late comeback but his team fell short. Barcelona’s PG, Marcelinho Huertas, started the game on fire but missed some key jumpshots with the game on the line.

Australia fought Team USA for three quarters until Kobe Bryant decided to take over the game. He scored 12 points in a minute and a half, all of them from behind the arc. LeBron James recorded the first triple-double in USA Olympic history with 11 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists. USA destroyed Australia in the fourth 35-16 making it an exaggerated 33 point win.

The semifinals will be USA-Argentina (as in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008) and Spain-Russia.

It wasn’t just another day of competition for Lithuania, as in Day Four of action the Europeans played Team USA, the overwhelming favorites to win the gold. Team USA was coming off a record setting 83-point victory against Nigeria but yesterday’s game was a different story. Lithuania stayed close the whole game representing the first legit competition Team USA has had to face.

Linas Kleiza kept Lithuania in the game by himself, and continued the trend of being a great international scorer, although he does struggle at the club level. The forward scored 25 points on 10/20 shooting and added five rebounds and three assists. He was a nightmare for the USA defense with his ability to post-up on mismatches, coupled with an in-form outside shot. As for Jonas Valanciunas, the game was just more of the same. He started again and was subbed out at the five minute mark after he committed his first foul. Foul trouble had nothing to do with his playing time; it was the coach starting to rotate his bigs. He missed the first shot of the game but converted on an And1 after an assist by former Duke product, Martinas Pocius.

He sat the rest of the first and the entire second quarter, which was hard to watch. As usual, he started the third period and immediately scored his second basket. He also grabbed a rebound a received a foul until, three and a half minutes in, committed his second and was replaced. Lithuania stayed in the game and Kemzura opted to maintain his veteran line-up. Jonas didn’t see the floor again. He finished with 4 points on 2/4 from the floor, one rebound, two fouls and two turnovers.

In terms of activity, Jonas had a very good game; he was active when he was on the floor battling with the player he’s usually compared to in Tyson Chandler. Chandler is not an offensive weapon so his main job was help defense and trying to keep USA away from the offensive boards. While he was in the game, Chandler grabbed one of USA’s two offensive boards.

Tomorrow, Lithuania will face Tunisia, the weakest team in the Group. Expect Jonas to have more minutes and touches. It’s his biggest opportunity to prove his value and earn more playing time in the quarter finals. Tunisia has a center that surprised a few experts in this tournament. Salah Mejri is a a very athletic 7’1’’ center with a huge wingspan, and a very similar game to Jonas. Mejri is leading the tournament in rebounds and blocks with 9.5 and 3.2 respectively. When he’s not taking long air-balls from the perimeter, Mejri uses his athleticism to finish above the rim.

It will be an interesting match-up in the paint, so, if coach Kemzura decides to give Jonas decent minutes in the next game, maybe we can get a better look at Jonas’ potential. With Russia’s win over Spain, every sign indicate that Lithuania will face David Blatt’s team in the next round.

José Pekerman is an Argentinean soccer coach who led the National Team in the 2006 World Cup, and his team fell in the quarterfinals, but he was remembered for one particular thing. Argentina had on their roster a player called Lionel Messi, who Pekerman never used. Messi watched his team lose to Germany from the bench as he never entered the game.

Six years later, and in a totally different sport, Lithuania’s basketball head coach, Kestutis Kemzura is doing a great Pekerman impression. I’m not saying that Jonas Valanciunas will be the world’s best player in a few years, but when you have one of the most promising young centers on the roster and your team is getting abused in the rebounding battle, maybe you should give him some playing time.

Valanciunas started for his team and made the first basket of the game for Lithuania. He scored four points on 2/3 from the floor until he committed his second personal foul with 5 minutes remaining in the first. When he was subbed out, he had scored half of his team’s points.

He sat the rest of the quarter and the entire second quarter while Lithuania recovered a deficit and went to halftime with a four point advantage. He started the third quarter but after France tied the game with two minutes played in the quarter, coach Kemzura took him out. Jonas didn’t see the light of day again. It was a strange move by Lithuania’s coach as France started to dominate the paint at the third, winning the quarter 20-9. Lithuania lost the rebounding battle 38 to 29 with one of the best rebounders on the team watching from the sidelines.

Jonas Valanciunas finished with four points (2/3 FG; 0/1 FT), two fouls and a blocked shot in seven minutes played. This time it wasn’t foul trouble that kept him from playing, it was a coach’s decision. Linas Kleiza was the team’s best player with 17 and 7 despite fouling out in 29 minutes, as Lithuania fell to 1-2 with two games remaining. On Saturday they’ll face USA, who destroyed Nigeria with a record setting 156–73 win. Two day later, they will finish the first round against Tunisia. All signs indicate that Lithuania will finish fourth and will have to face the first seed from Group B in the quarterfinals.

In other results, Spain escaped with a win against Great Britain with a great performance by Jose Calderon. The Raptors point guard scored 19 and the team’s last 8 points including six crucial consecutive free throws when the locals got back in the game. The final score was 79-78. Luol Deng and Joel Freeland combined for 51 points on 39 of the team’s 65 shots.

USA abused Nigeria by 83 in an unprecedented game. Nigeria isn’t this bad; actually they’re an athletic and young team who could bring problems to some contenders. It was the style they played that made the huge difference. They played a fast-pace up-and-down game and nobody in the world is better in that department than Team USA.

The best game of the day was Brazil-Russia. The Europeans won an exceptional match, probably the best game of the tournament so far. It was decided on the last possession by Fridzon:

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Sunday marked the beginning of the men’s basketball tournament at London. Twelve teams will battle in one of the more competitive Olympic games ever. Forty-three out of 144 basketball players are from the NBA, including seven from France, five from Argentina and Spain, four from Brazil, three from Russia, two from Great Britain and Lithuania, and one from China, Nigeria and Australia. That’s 11 out of 12 countries with NBA representatives. Tunisia is the only team with no NBA players, although 26 years old Salah Mejri played for the Jazz at this year Summer League.

NBA players represent 29% of the players in the tournament. At Barcelona 1992 that percentage was 9.7.

Lithuania has two players in the NBA; both are on the Raptors. Linas Kleiza and Jonas Valanciunas along with Spaniard Jose Manuel Calderon represent the Raptors in London but there are a few more familiar faces as well. Leandro Barbosa, shipped to the Pacers at last year trade deadline plays for Brazil. Former Raptor Carlos Delfino starts for Argentina, Pops Mensah-Bonsu is one of the best players for the home team and David Andersen is the starting PF for Australia.

The first two games for the Lithuanian National Team were totally different from each other but from a Valanciunas standpoint, they were very similar. Lithuania was destroyed in the opener against a solid Argentinean team but two days later they beat Nigeria in a blowout in a rematch from the surprising loss at Caracas Olympic Qualifying Tournament. However, in both games, Valanciunas had a similar impact.

After losing starting big man Robertas Javtokas with a stress fracture in Caracas, Valanciunas’ minutes and touches were expected to increase. He started against Argentina but early foul trouble limited his playing time in the first half. In the second half, coach Kemzura went with Jankunas and Songaila in the paint as Valanciunas watched from the bench. In 14 minutes, he finished with 6 points (3/4 FG), 5 rebounds and 3 fouls, and his team lost by 23 in a disappointing performance.

He caught and dunked an alley-oop early in the game and battled every offensive rebound despite being the only true big on the court. Defensively, Lithuania couldn’t find an answer to Luis Scola, who scored 32 on 19 shots. They tried every big available on him but the former Rocket proved to be a beast at the FIBA level. In the same game, Linas Kleiza was the best player from the Europeans. Playing small forward, he finished with a team-high 20 points on 11 shots to go along with 7 rebounds. As expected, Kleiza is the main guy on offense and the team’s best scorer with most of his scores coming from corner threes and post-up situations.

In the second game of the tournament, Lithuania played Nigeria, the surprising team that beat them in Caracas and made the Olympics for the first time in Nation’s history. Kleiza scored 13 on 4 threes and Lithuania won the game in a blowout. Jonas didn’t see much playing time. He spent 12 minutes on the court, shot 2/4 from the floor, grabbed 3 rebounds, blocked a shot and fouled three times. Former Wizard Darius Songaila was the best big on the court and made the most of the big chunk of playing time.

In two games, Jonas Valanciunas is averaging 5 points, 3 rebounds 0.5 blocks and 3 fouls in 13 minutes of action.

As for the unbeaten Spain, Jose Calderon remains the most solid option at PG. After Ricky Rubio went down with a knee injury in the regular season, it was known that Calderon would have to take that responsibility. He’s backed up by former Trail Blazers, Sergio Rodriguez and by Victor Sada, the latter an athletic defensive minded PG from Barcelona. Spain won both games as expected and Jose averaged 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 20.5 minutes per game. He scored 12 in the blowout against China and 4 in the second game against Australia. In this deep and talented team, Calderon has the exclusive roll of feeding Rudy Fernandez, Serge Ibaka and the Gasol brothers, the team’s primary offensive options. Juan Carlos Navarro, Spain’s best weapon on the perimeter, is out indefinitely with a plantar fasciitis, an injury that threatens Spain’s ambitions.

Brazil, Russia and the USA are the other undefeated teams while Tunisia, China, Great Britain and Australia remains without a win. Besides USA, Russia is the most solid team so far. They have a deep and extremely versatile roster with a bunch of guys that can play three or four different positions. They are coached by David Blatt, one of the most respected coaches in Europe.

Kirilenko is playing at a very high level, synchronizing plays with future NBA teammate Alexey Shved. AK47 scored 35 in the debut and Shved dished out 13 assists, which is very hard to accomplish with FIBA rules. The NBA is less rigorous than FIBA in that aspect; as an example, the Euroleague assist-leader averaged 5.6 per game while Rajon Rondo dished 11.7 last season.

Thursday’s action includes Lithuania against France, a very interesting game for Valanciunas as he will face Ronnie Turiaf and Boris Diaw among other bigs. The other games are: Australia-China, Argentina-Tunisia, Brazil-Russia, Spain-Great Britain and USA-Nigeria.

Taking a look at the newcomers

As the tournament progresses, Raptors Republic will be analyzing young prospects in the tournament and NBA newcomers for next season. The first one is Alexey Shved, recently signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Shved is an athletic 6’6″ combo guard from Russia. The 23-year old played last season for Euroleague runner up CSKA Moscow and was a teammate of Andrei Kirilenko and former NBA-player Nenad Krstic, among others. Shved is a true combo guard, not the typical undersized SG with good handles. He can run the point with great court vision, can pass well, and excels in the open floor. On Sunday against Great Britain he threw numerous alley-oops and back doors to Kirilenko while showing terrific timing. Besides the obvious high basketball IQ, Shved is one of the best players in Europe in creating his own shot because of his explosiveness and creativity. He is great at attacking the basket and taking advantage in one-on-one situations; he can finish strong in Europe, but his body strength needs to improve to make it in the NBA. His mid-range game is good but his three point shooting needs work. Defensively, he needs to get stronger; him and Ricky Rubio will make one of the thinnest backcourt in the NBA. Right now he can’t guard and NBA twos despite his lateral quickness. So far in the tournament Shved is averaging 15 points, 3.5 rebounds and tournament-high 9.5 assists per game in 29.5 minutes of action.

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NBA Player List at London

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Despite this Jonas Valanciunas and the Lithuanian National Team won the semifinals in Caracas and will be in the Olympics.

Much has been said about the need for Jonas to play in the Summer League in order to adapt the NBA style. Of course, it’ll be a difficult transition for him after spending his entire career playing in Europe, but the Olympic Games are a huge experience for a young player. It’s the biggest international stage where Valanciunas will have to defend top players like Scola, the Gasol brothers, Serge Ibaka, Kevin Love, among others. For what was seen in Caracas, Jonas will play 15 to 20 minutes if he stays out of foul trouble, he’s not there to be a third stringer. Also, He will have a great point guard who could feed him the way he needs at this stage of his career.

Obviously, he needs to adapt to the NBA game but the Summer League is not the answer. The ‘now or never’ individual attitude of most summer league players is not what Jonas needs to develop his game. Most of the players are looking for a last opportunity to make a NBA roster or a good contract. At this point, Valanciunas can’t create his own shot, he needs a PG to pass him the ball near the basket and that’s not going to happen in Las Vegas. The Summer League is for athletic scorers and offensive minded bigs, he doesn’t fit in this mold. In terms of Valanciunas’ development, there’s no comparison between the inferior competition of the Summer League team and an Olympic experience.

Lithuania is going to London after the Olympic qualifier in Caracas. They beat the best American teams in the tournaments as Jonas struggled against Daniel Santiago and Peter John Ramos from Puerto Rico in quarterfinals, but shined against Al Horford and Yack Michael Martínez from the Dominican Republic in the semis.

Jonas battled foul trouble that kept him on the floor for only 6 minutes against Puerto Rico. His third foul was a bad call and after that Jonas seemed frustrated. His coach put him twice in the fourth quarter and he was instantly called again. He fouled out in six minutes with no field goals attempted and three rebounds. His assignment was 7’3″ Peter John Ramos, a former 275 lbs Wizard with almost no mobility. Robertas Javtokas did better because he’s much stronger than Jonas.

The next day, Lithuania played against Republica Dominicana expecting a win that send them directly to London. Jonas battled with the best interior presence of the tournament: Al Horford and rebounding leader Yack Michael Martínez. Against a more agile center, Jonas displayed his best version. He finished with 17 points in nine shots and 5/6 from the FT line. He added 7 rebounds, 1 block and a steal before fouling out with 20 seconds remaining in a game won by 26 points. He was a tournament-high 26 minutes on the floor and looked terrifically active on both ends. He controlled the defensive boards, thus limiting the offensive rebounding, which is the Dominicans’ best threat. On the offensive side, he spendt most of his time setting picks for his teammates, especially Sarunas Jasikevicius and Mantas Kalinetis. He often gets overlooked by his teammates despite getting a good position inside. He lacks a reliable offensive arsenal but he’s very effective with the ball in his hands. Not a great passer but an extraordinary finisher.

Coach Kemzura rarely uses two interior players at the same time. Lithuania’s starting PF is Linas Kleiza and we all know about Kleiza’s tendency to work in the perimeter. The three bigs in the team (Jonas, Darius Songaila and Robertas Javtokas) rarely shared the court. In the perimeter-oriented offense of Lithuania , Jonas has a residual offensive role besides setting multiple picks, but he still managed to average 8 points per game on 70% FG.

Lithuania will be playing in Group A against USA, Argentina, France, Nigeria and Tunisia. The Olympics start in fifteen days but the basketball opener is schedule for July 29th. The four best records in the group advance to the second round where they’ll face the four best records in Group B.

While the Raptors fan base is still lamenting on Nash’s decision. A key part of the franchise’s future is playing for his last opportunity to get to London. The Olympic qualifier is a short and intense tournament with 12 teams competing for the last three tickets to the Olympic Games. The teams are divided in four groups and the two best records advanced to the Quarter Finals which start on Friday.

There’re a few familiar faces in the tournament such as Greivis Vasquez from the Hornets representing hosts Venezuela and JJ Barea, Carlos Arroyo and Renaldo Balkman from Puerto Rico, amongst others. The Dominican Republic, coached by John Calipari, is led by Al Horford, the leading scorer of the tournament after the group stage with 26 ppg and by a guy named Yack Michael Martinez, a Caribbean version of Ben Wallace who pulled down 25 rebounds in the opener.

Russia, one of the big boys, is led by Andrei Kirilenko and Viktor Khryapa. Nuggets’ center Timofez Mozgov suffered an injury in the start of the third day and combo-guard Alexey Shved, who has been linked to the Cavs, Timberwolves and Grizzlies, is battling the flu.

The Raptors are represented in the Lithuanian squad. After having the opening day off, Lithuania debuted against the hosts getting an easy win by 18. Linas Kleiza had a brilliant game with 28 points on 11-16 shooting. Jonas Valanciunas started for his team but battled the foul ending up with 5 points and 1 rebound in 9 minutes. Note that it is impressive for a 20-year old player to start in such a talented and traditional national team. In the second game of their schedule, Lithuania faced Nigeria, a team with a few familiar names such as Al-Farouq Aminu, former George Mason PG Tony Skinn and former 9th pick Ike Diogu. Valanciunas had much more playing time as the only big on the court because coach Kemsura opted for a 4-1 formation. Jonas played 23 minutes off the bench, scored 10 points with 5 rebounds and blocked a shot.

In the beginning of the fourth, Valanciunas was key to Lithuania’s comeback from 11 down. He scored four straight points (both on pick ‘n rolls), blocked a shot, caused a turnover under his own basket after a defensive rebound, which resulted in an And1.

A huge alley-up with Sarunas Jasikevicius with 3 minutes left cut the lead. The PG threw a very high pass that Jonas caught and dunked in an impressive show of athleticism, length and good hands. Kleiza, did his damage in the first and third quarter and finished with 22 points on 11 shots, leading his team in scoring once again. He has the second best scoring average in the tournament behind Horford. Greivis Vasquez was third. It was a very controversial ending to the game after Lithuania decided not to foul with 20 seconds on the clock and down six.

Due to the unexpected loss against Nigeria, Group B was decided by a tiebreaker between the three teams that had Lithuania first with the best point differential, Nigeria second and Venezuela eliminated. In the quarterfinals Lithuania will face Arroyo and Barea’s team, Puerto Rico, while the other games are: Greece – Nigeria, Russia – Angola and Dominican Republic – Macedonia. The winners of the quarter finals will face in the semi on Saturday. The tournament will not have a champion because the teams that win the semifinals will return home. The true deciding match is the Bronze Medal game that will decide the last ticket.

Ed’s Note: Thank you, Raul.

In the most disappointing performance in the nine days here, Canada fell yesterday against Panama, a team that has lost its last three games by almost a 30 point average. Canada had hopes of taking the 5th spot that would give them the qualification to next year pre-Olympics, hoping for a ticket to London 2012 but instead, they lost to the weakest team in the second round.

Nuggets forward Gary Forbes had the best individual performance of the tournament with 39 points, 18 of them were in the last period which Panama won 21-19. Panama was without three of its starters including their leading scorer and entire backcourt.

Both teams had a great FG percentage but Canada shot just 4/17 in the fourth and lost the rebounding battle 41-28, in part because of the presence of 37 year old veteran Ruben Garces who had 12 boards playing the full 40 minutes. Carl English had a great game with 24 points, 15 of them in the first period while Kelly Olynyk added 13 and 4 boards.

With this result, the Venezuela–Uruguay doesn’t matter and the Candians will leave Mar del Plata tomorrow.

Leo Rautins:

“It’s a disappointing loss. We knew that Panama is a team that could look almost disinterested one day and come out and play like they did today. Even though they didn’t win, they’re a team that can beat anybody in this tournament when they want to play. It’s very disappointing, I don’t think we’re good enough yet to absorb injuries, we need all of our players. But with that being said, we still had opportunities. With a few shots and a few stops we could have easily been in the top four.

On the team’s future:

“We have a lot of good, young players and the idea is that every young player that wants to represent their country could be with the team. The future looks bright”

Carl English:

“We had an OK start but we gave the opportunity to a team like Panama to have rhythm. They play a lot of one-on-one and we gave these guys confidence. For us, we fight but we didn’t follow the plan. In most of our losses in this tournament we got away from the plan and that’s disappointing. I don’t feel we should leave tomorrow but they were confident, made some big shots, and beat us.

Pictures here.

Eurobasket

Finally Jonas Valanciunas had his breakout game yesterday in Lithuania’s huge win against Serbia 100-90. Jonas had 18 points in nine shots attempted during his 20 minutes of play that included 5 rebounds and 2 blocks shots. Valanciunas has seen his minutes increased since the injury to Petravicius but yesterday the team was also without big man Lavrinovic.

In other news, Spain continues on its road to the finals with a 77-68 victory against Germany. Jose Calderon started for the team and play 20 minutes with 2 points and no assists.

PhdSteve on ESPN

Talking Jonas and Bargnani as part of the 5-on-5 series.

Ed’s Note: Raul has a Twitter on one of the internets.

Canada had to work a little extra hard to beat Uruguay at FIBA Americas championship. After watching a 21-point lead collapse in the fourth, Team Canada needed two big plays in the fourth to finish off the South Americans, 70-68. Canada now needs to beat Panamá tomorrow and wait for Venezuela to lose to either Panamá today, or Uruguay tomorrow to get the 5th berth and a place at next year qualification in a last-ditch chance to be at London.

With Joel Anthony and Aaron Doornekamp out today and just 10 players in uniform, Levon Kendall stepped up for the team scoring 19 points, all before the final quarter. He also grabbed 11 rebounds. But his most important contribution was in the later moments. Up two with 20 seconds left, he guarded PG Martin Ossimani and blocked a layup that could have tied the game. The possession before that, guard Andy Rautins, who finished with 15 points, made a clutch three from the corner that put Canada ahead.

After leading by 21 in the third, Uruguay forced a comeback behind the scoring of Garcia Morales and the hustle of 19-year old Mathias Calfani. Calfani is flying under the radar of the NBA scouts but is in my opinion a very intriguing prospect who outplayed Brazil’s Augusto Cesar Lima on Monday. Lima is expected to be a first round pick in next year draft and is considered a solid big man with a great future.

As has been the norm, Canada once again boasted a balanced scoring attack, and an effective defensive plan that forced Uruguay to shoot just 32% from the floor. During the second quarter, Canada played some zone defense limiting Uruguay to just a 25% FG.

Tomorrow Canada will face Panamá, the weakest team in the second round that has a lone NBA representative in the Nuggets’ Gary Forbes.

Leo on being the only North American team in the tournament:

“We’re the different team, so it’s different with the officials, with everything because I can’t even talk to the officials. They’re talking to the players in Spanish but that’s the way it is, you have to keep playing”.

On Cory Joseph:

“I don’t think he had a bad tournament, It’s his first time playing. He’s a young player and he had only eleven practices with us. I think he’s going to be OK, he has a great attitude, he works hard, has high energy when he plays. We’re working on his shot, in his decisions. He’s going to be a very good player”.

On coaching his son:

“It’s fun, we’ve doing this for a while so it’s not an adjustment but It’s fun, I enjoy it and It’s a great experience. Sometimes I may be harder on him than with everybody else because the team has to see that. I can always watch him in the eyes and now if he’s going to play good or bad. I may not know that with every player but with him, I know that”.

On a short roster today with just 10 players on uniform:

“It hurt us bad. Joel Anthony is our best defensive player also Aaron Doornekamp had a concussion yesterday and he’s one of our fighters down low. He’s OK but he’s out of the tournament. Even Andy, my son, broke his nose yesterday, he had a slight concussion but he could play today even though it was a concern because if he was hit again it could be a problem”.

On Tristan Thompson absence:

“Tristan would have been great. We would love to have him. I hoped he’d be here. He would have been a great addition to this team and I want to have all the NBA players on the roster”.

More pictures here.

Less than fifteen hours after losing to Argentina, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score would indicate, Canada faced Puerto Rico in their last chance at a birth in the semifinals. Canada started the game flat, allowing Puerto Rico to take a large early lead. They mounted a heroic comeback late in the fourth, but Puerto Rico held on to pull out a 79-74 win. Carlos Arroya played like a champ; finishing with 26 points, 7 of which were clutch baskets in the dying seconds of the game.

NBA recent champion José Juan Barea talked to FIBA on Arroyo’s role in the team:

He’s our captain, the leader, the veteran. He’s been here for so many years and he’s doing a great job leading the team.

Coming off the bench for Canada, Joel Anthony played all of 6 minutes before leaving to the locker room because “He wasn’t feeling very good” according to Leo Rautins; who spared us his usual verbal diarrhea. Sadly, on the final possession of the game, Aaron Doornekamp suffered a punch in the face and left the floor with “probably a broken nose” according to the coach.

Both Andy Rautins and Carl English played a decent game, but their lack of energy after playing Argentina the day before was evident. Rautins finished with 18 for the night, while English and Levon Kendall chipped in 13 and 10 points respectively. Kelly Olynyk followed up his outstanding performance against Argentina with 7 points and 6 rebounds in 20 minutes of play.

Yesterday, young big man Olynyk was the lone bright spot for Canada that lacked any semblance of offence and passion against the best team in the tournament; Argentina. The 20 year old Gonzaga product had a terrific game with 18 points, against a combination of Luis Scola and Andrés Nocioni, who had little success in guarding him. It mattered little as Canada fell 79-53 on a combination of poor offensive execution, poor shooting from the field and an utter inability to protect the ball that lead to 22 turnovers.

Leo Rautins on Argentina:

They are the best team here. They have some many weapons and for us with a game 11:30 tomorrow morning we have to through this game. We did good things, got an opportunity to keep it a close game but the key right now for us is to be ready for tomorrow mourning.

Leo on the tournament:

What I would like to see in a tournament like this is, What’s wrong to adding two more days? One in the middle of the first round and one on the middle of the second. It’s not just for Canada, there’re a lot of talented players here and you don’t want to risk an injury.

Kelly Olynyk on Argentina:

Argentina is a real tough team to play against. Any person on the court can score or pass. I think we play tough for a part of a game but then they got away

Olynyk on playing against big stars at a young age:

It’s a great experience, they are great players but you have to go to the game knowing that you can still do stuff. You can’t go out there thinking they are above you.

Canada now needs to win their last two games to stay in the fight for the fifth spot, that will give them a ticket to next years qualification round for London 2012.

Eurobasket: Spain and Lithuania

Spain beat Lithuania on Sunday, in a duel of undefeated teams, to secure a ticket to London. The Spanish side played a great game, with Jose Calderon leading the charge with 12 points. For Lithuania, Jonas Valanciunas benefited from the injury to Petravicius (the team first’s back up big man who is out of the tournament with a heart condition) contributing 13 points and 2 boards in 16 minutes of extended play against the very deep front-court of Ibaka, Reyes and the Gasol brothers.

Both teams played again yesterday as Spain lost its first game against Turkey with a 5 points 3 rebound contribution from Jose Calderon; while Lithuania beat Portugal by 30 with Valanciunas kicking in 8 points 7 rebounds and game-high 8 fouls drawn from in 27 minutes.

Italy, who were eliminated early as a result of being in the killer Group B, lost their last two games. Bargniani put up solid numbers in both matches, maintaining his #1 status as the team’s first offensive option and the most consistent player (lol) on a very inconsistent team. He dropped 22 points 5 rebounds against France.

In an overtime loss to Israel, that saw Italy come back from a twenty point deficit in the fourth, El Mago put up 26 (10/19 FG) points 11 boards. Bargs finished the tournament as the third leading scorer with 22.8 points per game, trailing only Tony Parker and Loul Deng.

Ed’s Note: Raul still going strong. Follow him on Twitter.

In one of the most exciting games of the tournament, Team Canada fell this mourning to Venezuela in overtime 103–98 after being tied at 84 at the end of the regulation. It was the highest scoring match of the entire first round, one that ends tonight when Argentina faces Panamá. Both teams played an up-tempo game, and looked to exploit each other on the break as often as possible. Jermaine Anderson was Canada’s top scorer with 28 followed by former UConn Huskie Deham Brown with 19. Toronto native Cory Joseph had a quiet game with just 1 point, 2 assists and 3 rebounds in just 15 minutes.

With the blowout against Cuba yesterday and Dominican Republic’s win over Brazil, Canada came to this game knowing that if they beat Venezuela, there’ll be a tie at the top of Group B. But they came up short after fighting the entire game and now, they’ll face Argentina on Monday.

As usual, Carl English started strong with 9 of his team’s first 16 points. But Venezuela’s lone NBA player, Memphis Grizzlies back up PG Greivis Vazquez, had a prodigious outing. Vazquez finished with 29, followed by Hector Romero with 28. In the second round the four teams that advanced will play against the other four and then, the four best teams of both rounds will pass to the semifinals looking for a ticket to London 2012.

After three games each, both Spain and Lithuania remain unbeaten and will face each other tomorrow. Jonas Valanciunas saw very little action in the first game finishing scoreless, played 18 minutes in the second, fouling out with 7 points, 2 rebounds and 5 TO and didn’t played a single minute yesterday against a Turkey team that has Enes Kanter on the roster. For Spain, Jose Calderon is sharing point guard duties with Ricky Rubio and is averaging just 3 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, but his role in the team isn’t scoring or putting big numbers. Spain is an insanely deep team that needs Jose’s playmaking abilities to set up the offense and create shots for the Gasol brothers, JC Navarro and even defensive specialist, Serge Ibaka. Until now, Spain hasn’t had too much opposition and is wining games by blowouts but tomorrow’s match up against Lithuania will be a nice test.

Andrea Bargniani is playing for Italy along with Belinelli and Gallinari. After losing their first two games Italy recovered yesterday against Latvia with a terrific performance from Bargnani who finished with 36 of his team’s 71 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. In his debut against Serbia, he ended up with a nice 22 and 9 but in the second day, against Dirk Nowitzki and Germany, he was clearly outplayed shooting just 3/14 for 8 points. As for tournament totals, he’s tied with Dirk with the third highest scoring average with 22, just behind Tony Parker and Pau Gasol.