Quarter-finals: Russia vs Lithuania

[auris1]

let me just explain the joke

I can play all the right notes—but not necessarily in the right order

it was made by Morecambe and Wise,just you tube it if you know English.
the thing i wanted to say,that Kemzura can -
rotate all the players on the team- but not necessarily in the right order

[madmax]

In hockey a coach hopes to have his very best players still fresh after 59 1/2 minutes so he can put them out on the ice for the last thirty seconds or so if and when the game is still on the line. As a result, every coach cycles through four lines of forwards and three pairs of defencemen throughout the game. The very best players may log 25 minutes of ice time with the demands imposed by power plays and penalty killing.

Playoff games can be brutal though. No ties allowed, and no shootouts. They literally have to play until they drop and someone scores.

I hope you are not approving of Kemzura's chaotic rotational approach by comparing the very physical game of hockey to basketball...because that would be uninformed at best, silly at worst really I don't know a single team in the world, apart from USA star ladden squad, which can get away with crazy rotations. They confuse the players and none of them is capable of getting into the groove this way. Even such strong elite teams like Russia and Spain don't allow themselves to play this way...

[Hepcat]

I hope you are not approving of Kemzura's chaotic rotational approach by comparing the very physical game of hockey to basketball...because that would be uninformed at best, silly at worst really

I'm not sure that his rotations are "chaotic". Granted, he subs for the starters quite quickly but the only clear star on this team is Kleiza (and even Kleiza had an off day today) so Kemzūra seems to have a relatively even pool of players from which to choose. This he does on the basis of the situation and whoever is having a stronger game. I mean which five players of the Lithuanian team have really stood out compared with their teammates so far? Jasikevičius has been the better shooting PG but he can only play about 20-22 minutes. Valančiūnas has started at C but he's had some problems out on the floor. Pocius looked as if he deserved to start, until today. Who stands out? Who is it that should be playing 25+ minutes every game?

[Mindozas]

Sure, we reached our goal, we're Top 8 at best now, Russia is better currently, Russia deserves it more. We're not Top4 team last couple of years, but some surprise won't be bad

[Shawshank]

Sure, we reached our goal, we're Top 8 at best now, Russia is better currently, Russia deserves it more. We're not Top4 team last couple of years, but some surprise won't be bad

Your photo avatar is simbolic right here.You know why? 1992-08-08 those players in your photo won our first bronze medal beating russians 82-78... tommorow its exactly 20 years aniversary of that and what you know we are meeeting them once again. Maybe history will repeat again ? ...

[lafa]

Maybe Seibutis additional cm's will help, especially since Seibutis proved what a capable defender he can be.

What additional cms are we talking about? Pocius and Seibutis are the same height.

[Darknemo2000]

What additional cms are we talking about? Pocius and Seibutis are the same height.

His reach is bigger which is what gives him the additional cm.

[Straight forward]

Sure, we reached our goal, we're Top 8 at best now

I'm sorry, but who exactly said it's our goal or it was just pure irony? I mean since when suddenly Lithuania is wishing to finsih 8th or 5th? Kemzura had all options he wanted - the strongest possible team for Kemzura (well, Javtokas got injured). Why suddenly our goal became being among top 8 teams as it used to be the medals since 1992? What kind of excuses come this time?

[thegreekmeister]

I hope he was being sarcastic. I do not want to live in the world were coming on top of Tunisia and Nigeria is reaching a goal

[Shawshank]

I hope he was being sarcastic. I do not want to live in the world were coming on top of Tunisia and Nigeria is reaching a goal

You see its harder not to make 1/4 in olimpic games,its way harder to make olimpic games tournament! and you greeks should know that even better

[Shawshank]

I'm sorry, but who exactly said it's our goal or it was just pure irony? I mean since when suddenly Lithuania is wishing to finsih 8th or 5th? Kemzura had all options he wanted - the strongest possible team for Kemzura (well, Javtokas got injured). Why suddenly our goal became being among top 8 teams as it used to be the medals since 1992? What kind of excuses come this time?

I didnt hear any of our coaches saying its good to finish in top8 or our players.But if you watch tallent wise in this olimpics we are not in top4 and living on the earth not in dream world lithuanians agrees on that.You can agree on that but it doesnt mean we gonna be satisfied with that.No our players and coaches gonna try to win that 1/4 game.If they came short our summers performance pverall gonna be solid,but not good.In case of lost kemuzra must resign? most likely yes,but if you ask me i liked his 2010-2012 better than butautas 2007-2009 3 years period...

[usagre]

Lithuania trying to extend their streak of semifinal Olympic appearances to 6.
Only other time they were underdogs in quarterfinals was in 2000 and they won surprisingly yet convincingly.
I don't know about this time.

[Hepcat]

Lithuania trying to extend their streak of semifinal Olympic appearances to 6.

And making the Olympic semifinal is most Lithuanians bare minimum expectation for their basketball program. That's quite the high hurdle for any coach of the national team. If, however, the team actually wins the semi as well, then the coach and players will be accorded a Roman style triumph through the streets of Vilnius!

[septynix]

If, however, the team actually wins a semi as well, then the coach and players will be accorded a Roman style triumph through the streets of Vilnius!

With slaves and virgins and elephants and everything!

While that surely would be nice, I'd be ok with a decent game against Russians. If a better team won after an exciting, beautiful match, and the better team happened to be Russian NT, well, ok, that was predictable, but - hey, not the end of the world (that's in December, according to Mayans).

If Lithuania won - hurray, we're the best, USA watch out, et cetera, overhyped nonsense I'll gladly indulge myself in. And then I'd dream further: all group A teams advance to the semis, since it was suuuuch a meat grinder there, right, wink wink?! Lithuania wins against France, ahh sweet revenge, then - finals. LeBron chokes, Durant makes, like, only 50% 3 pts, Jasikevičius does his clutch thing, Seibutis hulks out, maybe? why not? and Lithuania wins gold! Madmax kills himself, because Kemzūra will reign forever.
That's not a very likely scenario, I'll grant you that, but a man can dream.

[Straight forward]

I didnt hear any of our coaches saying its good to finish in top8 or our players.But if you watch tallent wise in this olimpics we are not in top4 and living on the earth not in dream world lithuanians agrees on that.You can agree on that but it doesnt mean we gonna be satisfied with that.No our players and coaches gonna try to win that 1/4 game.If they came short our summers performance pverall gonna be solid,but not good.In case of lost kemuzra must resign? most likely yes,but if you ask me i liked his 2010-2012 better than butautas 2007-2009 3 years period...

I'm only talking about last summer (Eurobasket Lithuania) and this summer (Olympics so far). This period is very dull. And that's the most important period since 2008 (Olympics). This summer NT is even more inconsitent and can't stick toghether as our NT used to. Lack of talent is really lame excuse if you ask me. To say that Lithuania is lacking talent is some misunderstanding. Argentina is playing with 4 players (not even having a center) - they just doing that very well as a team. When it's Kemzura's teams suddenly everybody find some excuses. One of the most talented young player in the world is not good for him - too young (for other he didn't even saw a place), peaking players are not good enough (Kleiza, Mačiulis, Jankūnas, Jasaitis, Seibutis) and venerants are probably too old? Let's just not make an excuses OK? Lithuania didn't make it in Eurobasket and Lithuania looked really bad in the group stage of Olympics. These are facts in my view.