The Lithuanian 3×3 basketball team impressively finished the Olympic group tournament - they beat the world and European champions Serbia 20:18 and secured at least the fifth place in the Olympic Games.
Our country's team, which won the third place in the first round of the Paris Olympic Games with 4 victories, will qualify for the semi-finals today at 22.30:2 p.m. battles with Polish basketball players (5 wins and 21 losses), whom they crushed 12:XNUMX in the group tournament.
Serbia (4 and 3) and France (3 and 4) will play in the next quarter-final.
The Olympic champion, who had stumbled for the time being, won all the competitors direct tickets to the semi-finals Latvija (7 and 0) and the Netherlands (5 and 2). If the latter team had lost today JAV (2 and 5), the Lithuanians would have entered the semi-finals immediately. At the bottom of the group was China (1st and 6th), which, like the Americans, ended the Games.
Dainius Novickas, the coach of the Lithuanian national team, admitted that he did not really expect help from the Americans, because, after their leader Jimmeris Fredette was injured, the USA basketball players had to play in threes for almost the entire tournament.
The semi-finals, the bronze medal match and the grand final will take place on Monday.
"We did our job and today is the most important match. Everything will be determined by psychology. We keep winning against the Poles, but now we will have to sit down, sort ourselves out psychologically and play better in a full arena than we did against the hosts. Of course, the men should be uplifted by that first victory against the Serbs", said D. Novickas. Until now, the Lithuanian national team has never defeated the Serbian team in official competitions.
And today there are 2 minutes left to play. 35 sec. Serbians led 18:14. However, only Lithuanian basketball players scored points after that.
Aurelijus Pukelis contributed 10 points to the historic victory, Šarūnas Vingelis 5, Evaldas Džiaugys 4, Gintautas Matulis 1.
Coach, there is very little time left until the quarterfinals. How will the team be determined?
Now we'll go eat, sit down, watch a video. The players need to be reassured. We had a good plan in the group stage and if we can do it again as planned, not let their hurlers run wild, we'll be fine.
In terms of psychology, how do you see the difference between what it was like after the second game when you lost both the first games and now? How has the team grown over that period?
We all grow together. And I myself have a hard time with that stress. Therefore, we will stay for a few more days after the competition in Paris. Only Šarūnas and Aurelijs will go home immediately. The rest of us still want to enjoy the Olympic Games. We didn't see anything, we were stressed all the time.
We've talked a lot about men needing to relax and enjoy themselves in the 5000-seat arena. Just getting here was very difficult. I know that everyone in Lithuania is waiting, maybe even with anger. Thank God we deleted our social networks before the competition. After all, we are not really doing anything bad to Lithuania. And we have burdened ourselves with such responsibility that it seems we are doing something wrong and when we come back it will eat us.
But now the worst that can happen is the fifth place in the Olympic Games.
With a scene like this why not enjoy the game? So when to enjoy?
Of course I'll need some heart medication when I get back, but maybe I can make it through these two days. I didn't think there would be so much stress.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver is also in the stands today. Has there ever been a higher caliber person from the basketball world watching you compete?
LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Pau Gasol had arrived. Many stars stop by to have a look.
What changed the most in the second half of the match against the Serbs, when you managed to win?
Saved two minutes without substitutions. It seemed that we were already completely dead, but the Serbs were more tired. Then Šarūnas, who came in, hit from mid-range, and they collapsed, static shots began.
