2024-07-31 07:36:53
The fans in the stands of Konkordija Square were also wiping sweat from their foreheads, but they did not see the victory of the Lithuanian trio basketball team. Dainius Novick’s students, who made their debut at the Paris Olympic Games on Tuesday evening, lost 14:21 to the Latvians, who are defending the title of Olympic champions in this event.
We are already used to Latvian basketball players punishing players on the basketball court more and more often, this was also the case on the opening day of the Olympic triples basketball. Grabbing the Lithuanians by the throat from the beginning, the rivals broke away and maintained their advantage until the end of the match.
“We didn’t defend ourselves, we allowed them to make a lot more long shots. There were mistakes in defense, this is an essential factor”, said Gintautas Matulis after the match.
The 37-year-old basketball player scored 4 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in the opening match marked with a loss.
During the match, D. Novicka’s army did not avoid mistakes – they repeatedly made inaccurate passes and were overwhelmed by their opponents.
Aurelijus Pukelis was also injured in the fight, which required a lot of contact – he was cut in the eye.
“Personally, I didn’t understand that contact (in the match), because A. Pukel’s eye was pierced, my several fouls, that handling of the contact… But that’s not where we lost, the point is that we had to fix those long shots,” continued G. Matulis.
While walking towards the journalists, the players of the trio’s national team heard the opening speech of coach D. Novickas. What message did the strategist send?
“The coach told us that he hasn’t seen us play this bad in the whole preparation, we have to draw conclusions and come on Wednesday with a good attitude and better physicality.
We understand that we win and lose together, we are a team. We will come, sit down and see what we can do better”, said G. Matulis.
By the way, this was not the only defeat experienced by the Lithuanian basketball players against the Latvians on Tuesday. The Lithuanians also experienced failure against their neighbors in the European Wheelchair Basketball Championship.
Next match. On Wednesday, the national team of Lithuanian trios at 11 p.m. 05 min. Lithuanian time will be played with French basketball players.
Lithuanian national team. Aurelijus Pukelis, Šarūnas Vingelis, Gintaras Matulis, Evaldas Džiaugys.
Latvian national team. Nauris Miezis, Karlis Lasmanis, Francis Lacis, Zigmaras Raimo.
Teams. In the 3×3 basketball Olympic Games, the USA, Serbia, China, Netherlands, Latvia, France, Poland and Lithuania participate in the battles.
System. The Lithuanian triathlon team will play 7 matches from July 30 to August 4. All opponents will be played once. The top two teams will advance to the semi-finals. 3-6 places – to the additional stage of the quarter-finals. The 7th and 8th place teams are eliminated and the tournament ends. The medal fights will take place on August 4-5.
The Paris Olympic Games take place from July 26 to August 11, and you can follow their progress and the hottest comments from athletes lrytas.lt portal.
2024-07-31 07:36:53