2024-08-05 07:15:39
On Sunday, together with Gintautas Matulis, Šarūnas Vingelis, Aurelijs Pukelis and coach Dainius Novickas, he got even closer to Olympic medals.
The Lithuanian triples national team, which started its debut at the Olympics with two defeats, found itself among the four strongest teams of the tournament – after overcoming the Polish barrier, D. Nowicka’s army advanced to the semi-finals.
“That beginning… The tension was as always, but later we “hit”, we followed the plan, Š. Vingelis “punched” two-point shots, so the game became even easier”, said E. Dziaugys.
That relief was also reflected in the result – the 5,000 people located in Santravė Square were full. Lithuanians beat Poles 21:15 in the quarterfinals in the arena that accommodates spectators.
It was already the second time in this Olympic triples basketball tournament, when the Lithuanian national team entered the battle with Poland – in the group stage, the Lithuanians punished their opponents even more painfully – 21:12.
It could have been much easier for D.Novick’s students in the quarter-finals as well, although free long-range shots did not fall as surely as in the group stage. However, the Lithuanians found their luck in a crucial match much more often near the opponent’s basket.
Along with him, E. Džiaugys also had an impressive episode – the 27-year-old Raseiniškis scored points with a foul after a nice turn and scored a total of three points in a row, which helped the Lithuanian national team build a more tangible lead.
“I do what I do best – push myself, and it worked this time too,” the basketball player smiled.
In the semi-finals of the Olympic Games, Lithuanians will face the Dutch national team. Recently, she has become a hard nut to crack for D. Novicko’s students.
The Dutch punished the Lithuanians in the previous Olympic selection tournament, and later the Lithuanian basketball players had to feel the superiority of their opponents in the group stage, where the Netherlands won 19:18.
However, well-known opponents do not cause too much fear for E. Džiaugis – one of the leaders of the national team looked at the club basketball battles favorable to Lithuanians.
“We have played with them many times. We got it already in the selection against them, we also played here, we tried other things that worked, I don’t know, we need to improve them and not have such bad sections in the middle of the competition, because we made mistakes with them that shouldn’t have happened, we need to avoid such mistakes. If we go even, it will be interesting for sure.
We are capable of defeating them, in club basketball we beat them, so here we have to remove that tension”, reasoned Raseiniškis.
We would like to remind you that in the next Olympic triples basketball semi-final, defending champions Latvia and tournament hosts France will face each other.
The Lithuanian basketball players making their debut at the Olympic Games finished the group stage with four wins and three losses in their group and taking the third place in the group. At that time, the Netherlands finished second in the subgroup and avoided the quarter-final barrier.
The semi-final match between Lithuania and the Netherlands will be played on Monday at 19:00. Lithuanian time.
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.
2024-08-05 07:15:39