Having made the semi-finals (Bronze in 1992, 1996 and 2000; fourth in 2004 and 2008) of every men’s Olympic basketball event since regaining independence in 1991 (the only other country to have appeared in the final four of every tournament in the same time-frame is the USA), Lithuania was in perfect position to gain direct entry to London 2012 and extend their improbable run to six-straight semi-final appearances.
Hosting Eurobasket 2011 at home in a brand new Žalgiris Arena in Kaunas, and fresh off a third placing at the World Championship in Turkey a year earlier, Lithuania was heavily favored to finish as one of the top two teams and gain direct entry to London, despite the loss of a number of key players through injury, including NBA star Linas Kleiza.
However, dreams of European glory and direct entry to London were shattered at the hands of Macedonia and the naturalized Bo McCalebb, who shocked the 15,500 partisan fans in Žalgiris Arena, defeating Lithuania 67-65 and relegating the hosts to playing off for minor positions.
There was, however, a slight silver lining on the cloud for Lithuania, who managed to defeat Slovenia by three points in their fifth to eighth placing game, assuring they finished in the top six and qualify for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament that begins in Venezuela on 2 July.
They will now play alongside 11 other teams, competing for one of the three final Olympic spots up for grabs. Included in the tournament are Eurobasket semi-finalists Russia, host Venezuala, America’s powerhouse Puerto Rico and fellow European teams Macedonia and Greece.
The first step for Lithuania will be to navigate their way past host Venezuala on 3 July before tackling Nigeria an evening later. In order to qualify for the quarter-finals, they must win at least one of these two games.
From the quarters on, everything is far from a done deal for the greens, who to date have experienced a build-up that can best be described as less-than-perfect. The first major setback occurred when future NBA player Donatas Motiejūnas opted out of trying to gain a place on the national team, citing he wished instead to use the summer to prepare for what should be his debut NBA season with the Houston Rockets, beginning in the fall.
The next major setback was the loss of guard Renaldas Seibutis, who sustained a severely injured cheekbone during national team training. The 26-year-old had been showing some of the best domestic form of his life, helping Lietuvos Rytas to the Final Four of the Eurocup, earning himself a place on the All-Eurocup first team.
With two key players missing, Kęstutis Kemzūra’s team have struggled in the three warm-up games they had participated in at the time of print.
Hosting Macedonia in Klaipėda on 16 June and Greece an evening later in Kaunas, the hosts suffered a double setback, losing the games 78-74 and 82-70, respectively. Following the games, the team then travelled to the USA to hold a second training camp before moving south to Venezuela. There the news has slightly improved, with the green machine claiming their first win, defeating Great Britain 63-61.
Key to Lithuania’s success in Venezuela is the form of Linas Kleiza, but with just nine points on four-for-12 shooting from the floor against Great Britain, it appears that the forward is still far from the form he was showing when he was named in the World Championship all-tournament starting five in 2010.
Following on from his good form in Turkey, Kleiza missed almost a year of basketball after suffering a miniscule tear in his right knee, playing for the Toronto Raptors in the NBA. Kleiza only returned to the court midway through the recently completed 2011/2012 season.
Lithuania’s final warm-up games come against Russia overnight on 27 July, and a rematch against Great Britain overnight on 28 July.
