[1/8 finals - Day 2] Georgia - Lithuania

[slice me nice2]

Georgia was so hopeless after first three game actions but a magic wand touched their luck, they won the last two games and they are mentally in better shape than they had been in 3 days. Lithuania couldn't impress me and I have millions of question marks about their performance but traditionally, they know how to play these games. It will be a thrilling game.

 

[Dreamcatcher2]

Indeed it looks like it's gonna be a thrilling game. And not only because of bad performance by Lithuania in the group stage. I haven't seen any game from Georgia's group except of Greece-Chroatia. Judging only by the rosters, i would like to meet Slovenia without Goran than Georgia with their best players. They beat Chroatia and it seems are in a good shape. If we won't improve our game, we can easily loose.

 

[christodoulou762]

Easy win for LTU in this one. LTU weakness is guard defense but GEO doesn't have good enough guards to exploit this.

 

[Modis2]

Lithuania always played the playoffs better then the group stages. Our team is slightly picking up after the Czechs . A little to late but enough to get past Georgia. Valanciunas has two days to get back in shape. We know finally that Milaknis and Kuzminskas are getting better is well.

 

[Joško Poljak Fan2]

That's an interesting pair.
Both teams love to force things into the paint. Lithuania to Valanciunas, Georgia with noticably less succes to Zaza.
Georgia is constantly late and soft on the perimeter yet Lithuania's guards were generaly below average this tournament as far sa their offense goes.
Sanikidze/Shengelia against Kuzminskas/Maciulis/Jankunas matchup is also interesting.

Generaly if Lithuania will play the way they played against the Czechs I can see them winning this one, Milaknis playing some minutes is a must as Georgia will likely let numerous easy 3point attempts. The other way Lithuania can benefit a lot is through tireing Tsintsadze, Markoishvilli and Pullen as with some focused attention those 3 would barely be able to walk in the last minutes. However if Lithuania won't play as confident as they did vs Czechs, than Georgia has a chance there. They've come back from lagging behind in some games this eurobasket, can hit 3pointers in a series from multiple positions and basicaly without a good perimeter play that repeatedly punishes their defense they're not a bad team if they can hold their ground there.

 

[Mindozas6]

Zaza easily lose temper, he received 4 or 5 unsportmanlike or technical fouls already, so if Valanciunas will be able to control the paint the way he did against Vesely, Zaza should get frustrated easily, receive some silly fouls, I think our coaches should pay attention to that, that could help us a lot

 

[Straight forward2]

I'm suprised Pachulia is putting up such solid numbers. Not a bad player, but those are huge numbers. It will be very physical match-up between him and JV. Both loves contact, both will through elbows at each other. If refs will let them play, I still see JV manhandling Pachulia. However, I liked how Lithuania didn't force the feed for JV in the second half of the tournament against Czechs. Lithuania should use broader rotation surely, to keep the key players fresh for last minutes and letting fresh, hungry bodies like Milaknis, Gailius to run. I would love to see all 5 guards rotation, pressing Georgia a little bit from their own side of the court.

The biggest advantage Georgia has - they won't feel as much pressure. For Lithuania it's another absolutely a must win game while Georgians will come like there's no tomorrow and they're drinking Georgian wine in few days.

 

[Hepcat2]

The biggest advantage Georgia has - they won't feel as much pressure. For Lithuania it's another absolutely a must win game while Georgians will come like there's no tomorrow and they're drinking Georgian wine in few days.

The Lithuanian basketball federation should deliver several large cases of good Georgian wine to the Georgian team the night before the game with a note congratulating them for surviving a very tough Group.

 

[slice me nice2]

One thing that will matter in this game is Georgian forward chart. Lithuania has played against opponents who relatively have weaker charts in this position in comparison to Georgia. Manuchar, Shengelia and Sanikidze are underrated forwards and Lithuania should take care those guys. That's why this game will be interesting.

 

[INTEGRAL2]

The best game in 2nd round. I am waiting for the surprise from Georgia

If Manu and Sanikidze can stand tough against 2 Lithuanian forward Kuzminskas and Maciulis, Georgia can win.

Future Fenerbahçe player Shengelia and Zaza are killing couple against soft Jankunas.

 

[Thunder2]

Future Fenerbahçe player Shengelia and Zaza are killing couple against soft Jankunas.

Soft Jankunas? lol, thats something new. I understand he wont be able to hold on by himself, but calling him soft just cos you don't like him or any of Lithuanians players its just too much even for you. He can play even as Center even i prefer he wont do that too often. Sad, but only one PROPER number 4 at this year. (We so missing D-Mo after his great season at Houston Rockets, with D-Mo and JV would be strongest position at tournament, but....) Jankunas loves contact and he knows how to provoke fouls too and dont forget Jankunas over 1000 rebounds in Euroleague too. Not too many got over that limit M8.

 

[ncjazz2]

The best game in 2nd round. I am waiting for the surprise from Georgia

If Manu and Sanikidze can stand tough against 2 Lithuanian forward Kuzminskas and Maciulis, Georgia can win.

Future Fenerbahçe player Shengelia and Zaza are killing couple against soft Jankunas.

This matchup definitely gets my vote as the most likely upset of the 1/8 finals.

 

[Mindozas6]

This matchup definitely gets my vote as the most likely upset of the 1/8 finals.

Agree. Even tho it could be called upset only by looking at our historical results, not the way teams performed in this tournament. Wouldn't be surprised by any outcome here

 

[GreenFan2]

I think that Lithuania is being underestimated a bit. They may not be at their best atm but they know how to win this kind of games. I predict a relatively easy victory for them.

 

[Shawshank2]

If Lithuania is favorite here,its only like 55-45%...Georgian played last 2 games really good.I see this game coming close and decided in last 3minutes.Last 2 games we won in such style,after watching basketball for many years my guts says: that there is very good chance we wont win 3rd close game in couple days...sport gods can say word in this one...Lithuania will give the effort as we always do in playoofs,but this team just dont have enough players with killer character,that is need in the playoofs.I believe in this game we gonna miss kleiza and darjus alot...
For our best player Valanciunas matchup with Pachulia wont be easy,he wont get those same easy basket against him.He needs to put him in faul trouble.

For Lithuania loosing this game would mean first time since 1992 we wont make Olympic games.We are the only country from strongest continent Europe,that made all 6 olympics in pro era (1992-2012).SO the pressure would be big on our players...Russian women team first time didnt make olympics this year...all streaks will stop at one point...Hopefully it wont happen and im wrong,but this time im not sure,i have a bad feelling...

 

[CoachZ2]

If Lithuania is favorite here,its only like 55-45%...Georgian played last 2 games really good.I see this game coming close and decided in last 3minutes.Last 2 games we won in such style,after watching basketball for many years my guts says: that there is very good chance we wont win 3rd close game in arrow...sport gods can say word in this one...Lithuania will give the effort as we always do in playoofs,but this team just dont have enough players with killer character,that is need in the playoofs.I believe in this game we gonna miss kleiza and darjus alot...
For our best player Valanciunas matchup with Pachulia wont be easy,he wont get those same easy basket against him.He needs to put him in faul trouble.

For Lithuania loosing this game would mean first time since 1992 we wont make Olympic games.We are the only country from strongest continent Europe,that made all 6 olympics in pro era (1992-2012)...Russian women team first time didnt make olympics this year...all streaks will stop at one point...Hopefully it wont happen and im wrong,but this time im not sure,i have a bad feelling...

I don't think you need Kleiza in this team. Dude hasn't played relevant bball since 2012. I would give more minutes to Milaknis and Gailius. They can't defend the perimeter and you need more scoring options on the field. Valanciunas and Jankunas/Maciulis will have full hands with Zaza nad Shengelia, so you need to work the backcourt more.

 

[Mindozas6]

I don't think you need Kleiza in this team. Dude hasn't played relevant bball since 2012. I would give more minutes to Milaknis and Gailius. They can't defend the perimeter and you need more scoring options on the field. Valanciunas and Jankunas/Maciulis will have full hands with Zaza nad Shengelia, so you need to work the backcourt more.

Even Kleiza from last season would help this team a lot. We simply have no go-to guy, who could carry the team when it's needed, bein' clutch, take responsibility on his shoulders. Kalnietis tries to do that, but he succeeded only in OT with Czechs. Also our bigs can't shoot, stretch the floor, make easier life for JV. That makes our game boring and predictable too. Kleiza or even Darjus would be big boost this way, no wonder Kazlauskas so desperatelly wanted to have Darjus in this team after Kleiza and D-Mo couldn't join

 

[Shawshank2]

I don't think you need Kleiza in this team. Dude hasn't played relevant bball since 2012. I would give more minutes to Milaknis and Gailius. They can't defend the perimeter and you need more scoring options on the field. Valanciunas and Jankunas/Maciulis will have full hands with Zaza nad Shengelia, so you need to work the backcourt more.

Kleiza always was that player that scored for us when entire team was strugling and on panic...After that all other players followed him.Maciulis sometimes does those things on this team.Problem with your options is that Gailius and Milaknis will play their first playoofs game with Lithuania national team,and that first playoofs experience is always difficult to handle for rookies.So we do not know what to wait from them in such atmosphere...I have other hopes,i hope that Seibutis will bring something to offence, hes plays was really dissapointment this year so far,but i still believe in him. But yeah we definetely need some x factors,that can bring more scoring.In last game versus czech both kuzminskas and milaknis played really well,but we still were strugling to win the game...Our players really is fighting and not giving up in hard moments,but we are not so tallented as we used to be,but the pressure and expectations are the same,you have to win when you wear Lithuania Tshirt and that is not helping at all for those players that havent played in national team .

 

[Victorious2]

Lithuania will win this one. They are just stronger than Georgia.

 

[Ashtrusis_dantis2]

Imagine what a party would start on this forum if we would lose against Georgia... I almost would like to see it, im curious person. Hm... Nah, I don't want to see it

Now about a game - if our guards will be able to shoot lets say ~ 30-35% from a distance and will limit mistake numbers to ~ 10-14, we will win without testing our fan nerves. In other case Georgians will pack inside the paint making really hard time for our bigs and we can have problems.