No upset anniversary: Lithuania begin Qualifiers with a bang
KLAIPEDA (Lithuania) – Almost a year to the day, Lithuania suffered the biggest upset in their basketball history, losing to Denmark in the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers on November 27, 2021.
The unpleasant memory of that cold November night was present in the minds of Lithuanian fans, but the Baltic powerhouse made sure it wouldn’t happen again. They dominated from start to finish to defeat Bulgaria 89-69 and start the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers in perfect fashion.
All 12 players played for Lithuania, all 12 played for Bulgaria, too, the lopsided nature of the contest giving both coaches a chance to spread the minutes and find some rest before the games on Monday.
Turning point: Tip-off. Already by the end of the first quarter the hosts opened up a 22-11 lead, and opened up a 25-point lead at 79-54 midway through the fourth quarter.
Game hero: Osvaldas Olisevicius came off the bench and didn’t miss a beat throughout the 24 minutes he played against Bulgaria. He finished with 20 points, knocking down 6-of-8 from three-point range, with 9 rebounds and 2 steals in for good measure.
Stats don’t lie: Pick your poison – everything was on the LTU side of the boxscore. Perhaps the biggest difference was in assists, 29-13 for the hosts, leading to a lot of easy baskets. Points from turnovers said 33-6, fast-break points 20-3, a one-way street any way you look at it.
Bottom line: The memory of Denmark can stay locked in 2020. Lithuania came prepared, stormed to their win, rested players enough for the matchup with Czech Republic on Monday. Bulgaria will search for their first win at home against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
They said: “I’m happy for the win, happy that the plan that we prepared work, and happy for the players that they executed the plan. We controlled the game for three quarters. And I’m happy that we continued to play until the very end of the game and won with a good margin.” – Lithuania head coach Kazys Maksvytis
“First of all, I’d like to congratulate our coach on the national team debut. Today we were all on the same page. I liked how we played on defense the whole game.” – Lithuania forward Osvaldas Olisevicius
“Congratulations to Lithuania, they were better than us throughout the game in all phases of the game – on offense, on defense, everywhere. Our team played well on offense, but today they destroyed our game with full switch. This was a surprise for us, and we weren’t ready for it.” – Bulgaria head coach Rosen Barchovski
“There were two moments in the game where we could not score, at the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the third. We were not ready they were playing with switches on defense and we could not find a way.” – Bulgaria guard Pavlin Ivanov
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