Lithuania 88, Israel 73 | Box Score
After a disappointing tournament-opening upset loss to Georgia, Lithuania was looking to bounce back in quick order Saturday against their group’s host country, Israel. And following a disappointing FIBA Americup performance that saw the U.S. win gold and Canada fail to exit the round robin stage, Toronto Raptors fans were looking for Jonas Valanciunas to take a step forward and fill their September basketball voice. Entering play, it seemed fairly straightforward that Valanciunas and company would have an advantage inside, both on the glass and around the rim, and that Israel would probably try to borrow from Georgia and pack the paint in response, daring Lithuania’s guards to beat them on the perimeter.
Lithuania wasn’t just going to bend to that, though, and they looked for Donatas Motiejunas in the post twice in their first three possessions. Israel’s energy was palpable early, too, though, fuelled by a raucous crowd in the opening minutes, and that seemed to rattle the Lithuanians into a pair of early turnovers (a major issue during a key stretch against Georgia). Valanciunas was heavily involved at both ends, missing a hook shot, drawing a foul on a follow-up hook, and scoring again quickly while sandwiching blocks on Richard Howell and Shawn Dawson around getting beat by a very fun Lior Eliyahu flip shot.
What do @musukrepsinis' 🇱🇹 fans do during the free-throw break? ⬇️⬇️⬇️ #EuroBasket2017 pic.twitter.com/p3fjI4en5U
— FIBA (@FIBA) September 2, 2017
The Raptors’ center then got an early breather after fouling Gal Mekel, with Dainius Adomaitis tipping his hand that he’d be relying on Lithuania’s depth in a back-to-back scenario. If that depth could, you know, score, it’d be a more tenable strategy. Their outside shooting struggles continued, and while a rebounding edge bought them some additional opportunities, Israel opened up a four-point lead through a quarter.
Adomaitis continued tweaking the rotation, bringing Valanciunas back to start the second, but he promptly picked up a second foul (a very questionable offensive one) and had to sit the remainder of the half. Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Arturo Gudaitis picked up the slack as Lithuania made a methodical push to take control of the game back, eventually opening up a seven-point edge. Gudaitis picked up a third foul, though, forcing Lithuania to downsize a bit, and some otherwise good-looking offensive plans were mucked up by the continued lack of spacing (and some missed free throws). The shooting issues really can’t be overstated – an 0-of-6 half made Lithuania four for their last 28 threes in the tournament. That really allowed Israel to find their momentum again late in the half, storming back from down nine with an 8-0 run, forcing Lithuania into a pair of late timeouts, and cutting the deficit to 38-37 at the break.
Valanciunas’ return helped, and he was at the line again within seven seconds, drawing a third foul on a very effective Howell in the process. Howell got quick revenge, scoring and then stripping Valanciunas on a drive, but Valanciunas drew a fourth on Howell, sending him to the bench and tilting things further in Lithuania’s favor. They even hit a three! Within a blink, the lead was up to a game-high 13, then Valanciunas fed a red-hot Kuzminskas for another Lithuania three to stunt any Israel comeback. As Lithuania’s lock-down bench unit filtered back in, the game started getting out of hand, and Lithuania would take a 20-point lead into the fourth thanks to an Adas Juskevicius heave at the buzzer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6MDiQePA3Y
Israel made a mini-run to start the fourth, but like he did in the third, Valanciunas continued to dictate the pace some by getting to the stripe. When Edgaras Ulanovas hit a three and Omri Casspi followed by missing a layup, pushing the lead back to 18 with three minutes to go, that more or less sealed it.
Adomaitis had the chance to get conservative with minutes down the stretch, as Lithuania draws Italy tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. ET, and nobody played more than 27 minutes. That includes Valanciunas, who finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, one steal, two blocks, and a plus-eight in 21 minutes, hardly an MVP showing but a nice performance considering his early foul trouble and minus-10 mark in the opener. It’s a nice response for Lithuania, too, with their shots finally starting to drop a bit and their enormous edge in terms of size producing strong defense and a big rebounding disparity. They’ll need every bit of that size and their perimeter players to show up offensively against the Italians, and at some point they’re going to have to stop turning the ball over so much.
For a day, though, it’s a step in the right direction. Lithuania should bounce back as a favorite according to internet gambling services from here, and over the coming days could wrestle control of Group B back with a few big wins.
