2023 Lithuanian NT

[Hepcat]

So Lithuania 93 Egypt 67. Pretty workmanlike.

But!!! Starting PG Rokas Jokubaitis had an EFF of only 1 with 3 turnovers and only 3 assists in 24:04 of playing time. SG Margiris Normantas was the star among the guard contingent with an EFF of 19 in 18:23 of playing time.

Meanwhile Jonas Valančiūnas had an EFF of 19 over 17:23 minutes but had 4 fouls and a +/- rating of a wretched -7! Unheralded Gabrielius Maldūnas was the star among the bigs with an EFF of 10 and a +/- of 15 in 7:05 minutes of playing time.

And the team shot only 11/36 from the three point line.

[Straight forward]

It was really unencouraging and even funny to see that even freakin' Egypt attacking JV in the first place. And JV again was attacked well. All exhibition stage he was eaten alive by his all opponents and that continues with Egypt as well...

It's good that Jokubaitis had a day off now. The key is how he will run the team against Montenegro and Greece. Without him running the team against serious opponents we can forget about being competitive,

Good game for Iggy. His threes didn't fall, but other than that he was scoring and dishing the ball nicely. It's very important that he would get into shape at the right time.

Sedekerskis showed why he's a solid EL player. 7pts, 7rbs, 2as, solid defense. We need him being even more aggressive. Bring that athleticism.

Looking forward (specially future tournaments) it was nice to see Sirvydis' confidence. Not all shots went down, but he takes them with extreme confidence. Cold blooded. ATM he won't help much, but long term he can be a high level role player.

Hope Normantases and such can prove me wrong, but the team is thin. When Grigonis got locked by Spain in 2022 we had still 3 high level guards in Jokubaitis, Iggy, Lekavicius who all played well and kept us in the game. IMO, now we have only 2 guards who can play well against top opponents and that's not enough. Unless Normantas and Dimsa will prove me wrong.

[Hepcat]

ILooking forward (specially future tournaments) it was nice to see Sirvydis' confidence. Not all shots went down, but he takes them with extreme confidence. Cold blooded. ATM he won't help much, but long term he can be a high level role player.

Despite your effort to put a positive spin on the performance of one of your favourites, Deividas Sirvydis had a lousy game today. He shot 2/7 from the three point line and did nothing else in the game but pull down a single rebound in 9:45 minutes of playing time. Whether he shoots confidentally or not, a miss is still a miss. Moreover he was the only player with a minus +/- rating other than the previously mentioned Valančiūnas.

Hope Normantases and such can prove me wrong, but the team is thin. When Grigonis got locked by Spain in 2022 we had still 3 high level guards in Jokubaitis, Iggy, Lekavicius who all played well and kept us in the game. IMO, now we have only 2 guards who can play well against top opponents and that's not enough. Unless Normantas and Dimsa will prove me wrong.

Lukas Lekavičius had anything but a good tournament in 2022! He was a liability on defence and had the single worst +/- rating on the team of -3.8.

[Dreamcatcher]

Normantas was the best scorer and had a good game (even if it was only Egypt) - he is ''Normantases and such''. Sirvydis simply throwing three pointers from static position with fewer than 30% - that's promising

[Hepcat]

What's both annoying and troubling is that Straight forward's commentary all too often bears only the most tenuous relationship to game play. The same players invariably get his praise regardless of their performance while others always seem to draw his scorn.

[R1ou]

jokubaitis looks horrible, there is no excuse for this playing against egypt

I guess it's related with him not being the player many people think he is.

[zalias]

no way sirvydis is getting compared to normantas right now? normantas ceiling is a mediocre lkl player while sirvydis has potential to be a solid euroleague player

[Hepcat]

normantas ceiling is a mediocre lkl player....

That is incorrect. I see that Normantas' EFF of 11.03 was the 41st best in the LKL this past season. However you slice it, that's well above average. That plus the "detail" that he won a spot on Team Lietuva. Very few other LKL players managed to do the same. (Incidentally, can you think of any better candidates for his slot on the team?)

no way sirvydis is getting compared to normantas right now?.... sirvydis has potential to be a solid euroleague player

Yes, that is precisely correct. We're talking about right now! In case you haven't noticed, Team Lietuva is competing in the World Cup right now. Whatever the potential of Deividas Sirvydis happens to be, it's irrelevant. We're talking about what he's doing and might be capable of doing for Team Lietuva right now.

[Straight forward]

Kuz and Sirvuha have their own tournament every practice

https://twitter.com/mamilasius/status/1695689754518450663

[Svajunas]

Surprised with Sirvydis. He is not there yet. But his confidence in his shot, his quick passes up the court and quick hands are promising.

Jokubaitis will be fine, we know that hes much better than what he have shown so far. Problems are in his head, he will be fine.

JV doing JV things. Dominating on offence, sucking on defense.

Tadas has to be even more agresive with back door cuts and fighting for offensive rebounds.

Brazdeikis seems in better place mentally than last season. The game has slowed down for him.

Normantas, suprises good for him. Dimsa can be better.

Anyway, on a good day if everything clicks we can beat both Montenegro and Greece, thats promising.

[Shawshank]

These 2 blowouts games i watched with no emotions when its was clear who will win.

Nobody averaging more than 22minutes and 11 players averaging 10+min,everybody scored,everybody had easy layups and nice easy shooting looks

Next 2 games will decide our tournament and show real level of players and what our 2023 roster is made of.


Real world championship for Lithuania starts on Tuesday

[fasoulaki]

In the last preparation game Lithuanias last was leading 60:30 at halftime against Latvia the team which just kicked french asses. I also remember Latvia playing a very good WC qualification. I guess Lithuania is in good shape.

[Straight forward]

In the last preparation game Lithuanias last was leading 60:30 at halftime against Latvia the team which just kicked french asses. I also remember Latvia playing a very good WC qualification. I guess Lithuania is in good shape.

Bad game for Latvians simply. They played like trash in that game. Far from their status quo.

[Hepcat]

Jonas Valančiūnas Enters World Cup Record Book

[Straight forward]

Now we get to see how big of a problem is JV and D-MO defensively. Vucevic is likely the best offensive center in WC together with KAT and he seems to be in good shape. He can do everything offensively. JV has been destroyed even by Egypt and Mexican bigs in some stretches, literally. He's becoming slower and slower, bigger and bigger problem. Now Maksvytis will show whenever he was able to prepare something to hind JV and D-Mo (he's a bit better defensively, but also sucks). That's on coach, cause only with team effort you can hide some of JV's weakness.

To me it will be the biggest indication on what we can hope in this tournament. If we show something defensively against MNE, we can hope something going further.