GB Come Up Short Against Lithuania, Eurobasket Day 1

Great Britain almost caused an early shocker against Lithuania in their Eurobasket opener, but ultimately came up short, suffering an 80-69 defeat.

An absolutely dominant third quarter from GB, where they held the host-nation to just 5 points, got everyone thinking an upset could be on the cards, but Lithuania had other ideas.

With GB up 57-54, the Lithuanians put the clamps down in the final period, and seemingly couldn’t miss from three point range, to outscore them 23-15 in the quarter and secure the victory. It was bench scoring that proved the big difference between the teams, as Lithuania got a whopping 45 from theirs, compared to just 2 for GB.

Head coach Chris Finch felt his team ultimately couldn’t make shots when it counted:

“They won a game that came down to making shots. I thought we out-fought, out-hustled and out-played them for a lot of the game, but we couldn’t out-shoot them, which is what they do very well and it won them the game.”

And comparing the game to GB’s heavy loss to Latvia at the weekend, he continued:

“That game was an aberration, we were much better tonight. Our lack of depth and experience shows at times, we just need to stay in games and we’ll win our fair share.”

Luol Deng led GB with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, whilst Dan Clark added 15 and 8, and Freeland had 14. Lithuania were led by 16 points from Rimantas Kaukenas

Box score play by play and statistics can be found here.

Other Results in Group A

Spain 73-68 Poland
Poland refused to go down with a fight but ultimately came up short as Spain began their title defence with a victory. Pau Gasol had 29 for Spain, with Juan Carlos Navarro adding 23 and Marc Gasol 16. Poland were led by Lukasz Koszarek’s 19, with Thomas Kelati adding 18 points. Box score and play by play can be found here.

Turkey 79-56 Portugal
Turkey cruised to a 23 point victory over Portugal to open up their 2011 Eurobasket campaign. Hedo Turkoglu and Enes Kanter led Turky with 12 points each, whilst Elvis Evora had a 12 point-12 rebound double double to lead Portugal. Box score and play by play can be found here.

Standings in Group A after Day 1

1. Turkey 1/0
2. Lithuania 1/0
3. Spain 1/0
4. Poland 0/1
5. Great Britain 0/1
6. Portugal 0/1

Notes

• GB Starters: Ogo Adegboye, Nate Reinking, Luol Deng, Dan Clark, Joel Freeland
• Robert Archibald sat out with a migraine. He was not present in the arena according to reporters in the stands.
• Lithuania finished the game 10/17 (just under 60%) from three point range. GB were 5/18 (just under 30%).
• Add Lithuania to the list of world powerhouses GB has pushed to the edge. It’s only a matter of time before they take a scalp.
• Luol Deng played all 40 minutes for GB.
• Great performance from Dan Clark, is he going to be the x-factor in this tournament?
• Kyle Johnson and Devon van Oostrum both registered DNP-CDs.
• Captain Drew Sullivan had some select words for the referees after the game, tweeting: “Gut wrenching loss tonight, the refs didn’t do us any favours. Must be nice to know that ur bigs can set illegal screens n get away with it.”
• Find all the action from the other groups at the official Eurobasket 2011 website.

Did you watch the game? Thoughts?

Image credit: Mansoor Ahmed