3X3 in Lithuania

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So I found and watched both games on Youtube. Team LT was lucky it was even that close in the first game. They clearly weren't all even on the same page and turned the ball over repeatedly. Their shooting behind the arc was simply ugly. They weren't even set for some of the long distance shots they took and I don't believe they sunk even one.

Team LT looked much more cohesive in the second game. Gintautas Matulis and Modestas Kumpys each hit a long range shot and the team's passing was much more cohesive.

Ernestas Sederevičius in particular actually looked quite good. He was quick and had a nice finishing touch.

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Coach Dainius Novickas was reported to have said in an interview in St. Petersburg that the Šakių Gulbelė players found it very difficult to adjust to the oppressive heat in Doha last week and that it impacted their play.

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So I watched the QF that took place earlier today in St. Petersburg:

Novi Sad (Serbia) 21 Team LT 18

Team LT looked much more polished today than yesterday and were no longer turning the ball over at a ghastly rate. Their shooting from beyond the arc was also better with Vytautas Šulskis and Modestas Kumpys hitting two each. Their free throw shooting was really lousy though. Šulskis missed both free throws attempts early in the game after a Serbian technical which caused me to shout at the computer screen. Gintautas Matulis missed one or two more. Team LT didn't make any free throws in the game.

Šulskis once again showed a very nice finishing touch under the basket. But young fellows Sederevičius and Kumpys added a lot of energy to Team LT.

Coach Dainius Novickas was shouting in annoyance from the stands. Coach Žydrūnas Urbonas was watching/studying the game more quietly beside Novickas.

Since Novi Sad went on to the final where they bowed 21-18 to Team Netherlands, all in all it was a credible effort on the part of Team LT.

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So I watched the QF that took place earlier today in St. Petersburg:

You know I still can't find any report on the game on either Basketnews.lt or Krepšinis.net. Did the game receive much or even any coverage in ordinary newspapers?

[Mindozas]

You know I still can't find any report on the game on either Basketnews.lt or Krepšinis.net. Did the game receive much or even any coverage in ordinary newspapers?

It was report on federation site. But I didn't notice it too in these main bball sites. Maybe there was some, maybe not. Overall, if you think that in these sites are working professional journalists, who follow the sport closely, so I'll have sad news for you There are usually low paid amateurs, at least I hope they are paid now, some years ago they did that for free, at times having a chance to go to the games for free. So mostly guys who accept that, who sometimes obviously doesn't have much clue who are they writing about, just copying news with the same mistakes and going for clickbaiting headlines. Even in Doha masters, krepsinis.net managed to write that Sakiai started the tournament with two losses. I mean after these two losses it was all over, but who cares...

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Oh boy! Meaning my write-up above that I pecked out after watching the game twice on Youtube is perhaps the most comprehensive account of the game available to interested Lithuanian fans. And I'm not exactly an "expert" observer. The mind boggles....

[Mindozas]

Oh boy! Meaning my write-up above that I pecked out after watching the game twice on Youtube is perhaps the most comprehensive account of the game available to interested Lithuanian fans. And I'm not exactly an "expert" observer. The mind boggles....

Yeah, you can call yourself the best source for that now I remember the days when lot of IBN non-Lith guys were named as journalists by our bball sites. Latter were taken info from IBN and writing smth like "our journalist/sources/insider from Greece/Spain/Italy and etc" told us that (enter the headline)

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There's an amusing bit here at the 27:48 mark of the Russian announcers commenting on Coach Dainius Novickas:

Coverage of the Team LT - Novi Sad game starts at the 1:09:00 mark.

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Interesting that in the FIBA's annual 3x3 basketball country rankings for men that were just updated yesterday for 2021 Lithuania climbed four places from #10 to #6. Serbia, the United States, Russia, Slovenia and Latvia occupy the top five positions:

FIBA 3x3 Country Rankings for Men

Last July's Hoptrans tournament and Utena's emergence as a team on the world stage seem to have been the factors behind Lithuania's jump.

Šakių Gulbelė jumped three slots from ninth to sixth place in the Team rankings:

FIBA 3x3 Men's Team Rankings

Despite the fact that Gulbelė didn't have the best of seasons, Gulbelė did score a second place finish at the September 4-5th Europe event and played competitively in four other World Tour events. The Hoptrans championship in Palanga and the second and two thirds Utena registered in three World Tour events were good enough to secure 21st place for Utena in the Team rankings.

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...young fellows Sederevičius and Kumpys added a lot of energy to Team LT.

I suspect that Ernestas Sederevičius and Modestas Kumpys had gotten in touch with Coach Dainius Novickas around the time of the Anykščiai training camp in late February to indicate that they'd like to be part of the Lithuanian 3x3 program in future. Therefore when Coach Žydrūnas Urbonas decided to give Žygimantas Skučas and Ignas Vaitkus a rest, Sederevičius and Kumpys were given their chance. And they certainly gave the Lithuanian coaching staff something about which to think.

Šulskis once again showed a very nice finishing touch under the basket.

Interesting that three weeks ago I didn't rate Vytautas Šulskis' chances to make this year's final Lithuanian 3x3 team very highly. But overall he was the best and most consistent Team LT player in what I saw of the seven games Team LT played in St. Petersburg over the last three weeks. Not surprising perhaps since he was the MVP of the LKL in the 2015-16 season.

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Here are the team standings after the first two Stops of the ULE Tournament in St. Petersburg:

Riga - 170
Team NL - 150
Tri Zvezdochki - 130
Novi Sad - 125
Team LT - 100
Gagarin - 95
COP Moscow - 88
Inanomo - 85
BC Samara - 51
AS Monaco - 40
Bielefeld - 34
Skolkovo - 28

Since the top eight teams after Stop 3 will advance to the Final Stop on April 26th, Team LT's presence in the Final is almost assured.

Stop 3 of the ULE Tournament in St. Petersburg begins today/tomorrow April 14th. Team LT will face Novi Sad (at 14:30 Lithuanian time I think) and later in the day Skolkovo.

It appears that Team LT will consist of the Šakių Gulbelė players - Paulius Beliavicius, Aurelijus Pukelis, Darius Tarvydas and Šarūnas Vingelis.

[Mindozas]

Since the top eight teams after Stop 3 will advance to the Final Stop on April 26th, Team LT's presence in the Final is almost assured.

Stop 3 of the ULE Tournament in St. Petersburg begins today/tomorrow April 14th. Team LT will face Novi Sad (at 14:30 Lithuanian time I think) and later in the day Skolkovo.

It appears that Team LT will consist of the Šakių Gulbelė players - Paulius Beliavicius, Aurelijus Pukelis, Darius Tarvydas and Šarūnas Vingelis.

3x3 federation announced earlier that it will be: Aurelijus Pukelis, Ernestas Sederevičius, Modestas Kumpys bei Paulius Semaška. Again not a team I want to watch with only Pukelis as legitimate NT candidate for this Olympics qualifiers

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Novi Sad 16 Team LT 13
Team LT 21 Skolkovo 12

So Team LT advances to the quarterfinals.

Some observations from a first look at the two games on Youtube:

Team LT's only weapon in the first game was Aurelijus Pukelis inside. Pukelis was then an absolute wrecking crew in the second game with a couple of two pointers in addition to his inside play.

The only two pointer I noticed team LT making in the first game was by Modestas Kumpys. Kumpys was also playing some energetic, high pressure defence today and looked pretty good.

Paulius Semaška was completely inadequate in the sniper role for Team LT and missed a total of seven attempts from beyond the arc. He dished off some nice passes but overall he wasn't very effective today. Interesting that Semaška was wearing the #2 jersey with the name "Vaitkus" on the back.

Nor did I notice Ernestas Sederevičius doing much. Sederevičius was wearing the #8 jersey with "Skučas" on the back.

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So Team LT will play Gagarin in a quarterfinal. Gagarin finished at 1-1 with the other two teams in its group after beating COP Moscow 20-19 but losing to Bielefeld 22-19. But Gagarin was awarded first place on the basis of points scored which I think is a ridiculous way to settle three way ties. Nonetheless, this implies that Gagarin isn't exactly playing like a powerhouse team so I'm cautiously optimistic about Team LT's chances.

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Team LT 19 Gagarin 16

Team LT took control of the quarterfinal very early and built up an eleven point lead at one time. They then held on despite a late rally by Gagarin. Modestas Kumpys had some stellar moments in the game.

Team NL 21 Team LT 11

Team NL exploded out of the gate in the semi with shots from beyond the arc. Team LT had no answer as I think only Modestas Kumpys hit a shot from beyond the arc early in the game. Aurelijus Pukelis found it difficult to get open in the paint because Team NL could key on him since Team LT was not showing the capability to hit from beyond the arc. Team NL simply had complete control of the game to the end.

Novi Sad beat Team NL 18-17 in the final.

In summary, Aurelijus Pukelis demonstrated why he's a favourite to make the team that will represent Lithuania in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. He was very good in the paint and made his share of free throws.

Modestas Kumpys was also very impressive. He was fast, agile, had some great blocks on defence and made the occasional shot from beyond the arc.

Paulius Semaška showed some very impressive cuts to the basket and dished off some highlight reel assists but he didn't hit even a single shot from beyond the arc. He was also at a height disadvantage on defence.

Ernestas Sederevičius had an occasional moment but that's it.