Lithuania played its way into the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup semifinals by defeating Turkey 73-61.
Four players were in double figures for the winners, including a game-high 19 points for Renaldas Seibutis. Martynas Pocius and Darjus Lavrinovic combined for six three-pointers off the bench.
As a team, Lithuania went 10-of-19 from three-point range. Another important factor was the battle of NBA centers, as Jonas Valanciunas (12 points, 13 rebounds) matched the play of Turkey's Omer Asik (11 points, 10 rebounds).
Lithuania head coach Jonas Kazlauskas discussed Valanciunas' value after the team's previous win over New Zealand, telling reporters, "Jonas played really well and that's what we expected. He has gotten stronger and has more experience. Now he respects his opponents even more and knows the price of every game."
With the Toronto Raptors star holding down the low post and his teammates coming through with big games offensively, this team can keep winning. ESPN's Marc Stein provided his thoughts on the tournament to this point:
Turk ...
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Article written by Rob Goldberg
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September 9th, 2014 by Rob Goldberg Leave a reply »
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