Jonas Valanciunas’ Baltic Giants will take on DeMar DeRozan and the mighty Americans in the semifinals
Lithuania 73, Turkey 61 – Game Recap
I only caught the second half, so I got nothing on what went on in the first twenty minutes. Lithuania led 33-28 at halftime, buoyed by a 5-for-11 shooting performance from deep.
The third quarter was a see-saw affair, with Turkey’s interior defenders smothering Lithuania’s post-oriented attack. Jonas Valanciuans repeatedly posted up against Turkey’s Omer Asik, but the crafty New Orleans Pelicans center was strong in the post, stopping Valanciunas on multiple occasions. This, along with ticky-tack foul calls, frustrated Valanciunas which culminated in a technical foul and a trip to the bench.
Turkey’s attack stemmed primarily from the pick-and-roll. Lithuania’s perimeter on-ball defense was poor, so the bigs in pick-and-roll were asked to trap. This left, however, the easy over-the-top pass to the roller, which resulted in a number of easy baskets. When the occasional help defender rotated from the corner to help the roll, Turkey drained their corner three-point tries.
Lithuania’s lead was lost at one point, but the Baltic Giants managed to regain their advantage thanks to a barrage of three-pointers.
The fourth quarter saw Lithuania adjust their pick-and-roll defense, which helped them stop Turkey’s main weapon. A second big would rotate off his man to help the roll, and since Turkey’s bigs weren’t adept at making the extra pass, Lithuania’s extra big could recover in time to help and crash for rebounds.
The offense also opened up for Lithuania in the fourth as they dropped 26 points in the final frame. The torrid three-point shooting continued, aided along by better play from their bigs with Asik resting on the bench.
The victory puts Lithuania into the semifinals, likely to face the US, and in position for a medal finish.
Lithuania 73, Turkey 61 – Jonas Valanciunas Assessment
Boxscore – 12 points (5-of-9 FG, 2-for-2 FT), 13 rebounds, one assist, one block
From what I saw, Valanciunas struggled to solve Asik on offense. Asik is one of the league’s premier interior defenders, so that’s to be expected. Valanciunas got some surprising run as the facilitator in the high post which was a first, and netted mixed results. He found Darius Lavrinovic on a nice high-low for a score, but turned it over on the following possession. Personally, I’d like to see what Jonas has to offer as a high-post passer.
Defensively, Valanciunas was put in a bad spot. He doesn’t look the most mobile right now and he was asked to trap pick-and-rolls, so his man often scored because he couldn’t recover fast enough (not that any help was coming either). When Lithuania eventually switched up their strategy, he fared much better – crashing in for rebounds, shot-contests.
USA 119, Slovenia 76 – Game Recap
Same story different game. The U.S. get off to a slow start, but blew it open in the second half. There’s not even much to analyze at this point. Slovenia put up a good fight in the first half and the Goran brothers played well. But then the Americans pulled up their pants in the second half and it was over.
Some things to note for the players themselves
- Kyrie Irving was visibly grimacing after a fall on his way to the basket in the first quarter. He was immediately subbed out for Derrick Rose, but came back later in the game and kept driving. I’m sure LeBron is thrilled about his all-out effort, and not at all worried about his health for a potential championship run in Cleveland
- Derrick Rose looked better. After his bold proclamation on Monday, in which he essentially said “chill out, I’m a really good player”, Rose scored 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field
- James Harden had a rough night. Referees weren’t biting on his blatant foul-seeking drives to the rim, thus leaving him with a hideous 4-for-14 shooting performance. He didn’t exactly make up for his lack of scoring with his defense, either
- Klay Thompson continues to impress. Don’t be surprised if he’s included on Team USA’s 2016 Olympic squad. He’s played like the best wing on Team USA thus far
- Zoran Dragic is an NBA-quality player. He has good size, he can handle the ball and sink three-pointers
- No player assessment for DeRozan because he didn’t see any meaningful minutes. He shot 3-for-3 and grabbed two rebounds in nine minutes.
