Hunting for the first victory: Lithuania – France 41:40 (after the second half) / News
The Lithuanian national team (0-1) will welcome the second European Championship battle in Cologne, where they will face France (0-1).
- The match, which starts at 18:45, will be followed live on the website BasketNews.
10 minutes before the start of the match, the feeling is that there will be even more Lithuanian fans than in the match against Slovenia. Our main stand is once again packed, and scattered around the arena there seem to be many more. My personal guess is that there may be 5 thousand Lithuanians.
Two changes in the starting five compared to the match against Slovenia – Arnas Butkevičius and Marių Grigoni to Ignas Brazdeikis and Rokas Giedraitis. Next to them are Valančiūnas, Sabonis and Jokubaitis.
French top five: Thomas Heurtel, Evan Fournier, Terry Tarpey, Guerschon Yabusele and Rudy Gobert.
Match progress:
4:0, 1 min.: Sabonis opens the match. Giedraitis colon.
4:4, 2 min.: Fourni and Yabusele are equal.
11:4, 3 min.: Valančiūnas three-pointer. Jokubaitis colon. JV fines.
13:4, 4 min.: The continuation of Jokubaitis. Fournier’s answer.
18:6, 5 min.: Installing the valve stem. Brazdeikis long shot. French break.
Hurricane attack of Lithuania’s starting five – 18 points have already been collected in 5 minutes. So far, Jonas Valančiūnas is dominating against Rudy Gobert – not only did he hit a three-pointer, but he also scored 7 points, when Gobert only managed to miss a two-pointer and commit a foul. Sabonis tries to run to a fast attack every time and that’s how Lithuania quickly selects free throws. So far – 7 shots out of 9.
A great start by Rokos Jokubaitis – 4 points (2/4 doubles, 0/1 penalty), 3 assists and 2 rebounds. The Lithuanians scored 8 points from the penalty spot, and after two rebounds, they added 5 points in the attack, and in the first five minutes dominated 18:6.
21:8, 6 min.: Fallo’s penalties and Brazdeikis’ two-pointer with a foul.
21:12, 7 minutes: Fall’s layup and Poirier’s colon.
Moustapha Fallas, who did not play in the first game, stepped in midway through the first half and quickly scored 4 points, adding an impressive successful blunder on Valančiūnas. After recovering from injury, Fall is in the French national team after being the only center who can play under the basket with his back to the basket.
21:17, 8 minutes: Fournier’s three-pointer. Lithuanian break. Fournier penalties.
23:21, 9 minutes: Fournier and Grigonis exchanged points. Cabarrot’s answer.
After a strong start, the Lithuanians lost their balance after substitutions, lost the section 2:13 and squandered their double-digit advantage (21:23).
25:23, 10 minutes: Lekavicius’ penalty and Okobo’s two-pointer.
Lithuania: Jonas Valančiūnas 7, Ignas Brazdeikis 6.
France: Evan Fournier 11, Moustapha Fallas 4.
The biggest difference in the Lithuanian game occurred after the change in the offensive player’s position. After Rokis Jokubaičius started, the national team scored 11 points more than the opponents, while Lukas Lekavičius’s +/- indicator reached -9.
Lithuanians don’t stop Evan Fournier – playing without substitutions in the first half, the opponent’s leader scored 11 points (3/3 doubles, 1/3 triples, 2/2 penalties), recovered 3 balls and had 2 assists. In the start of the championship with the Germans, Fournier scored a total of 2 out of 10 shots and scored 7 points. Fournier remains on the court in the second half.
28:23, 11 min.: Three-pointers by Grigonis and Kuzminskas.
31:28, 12 minutes: Fournier responds in kind. Poirier placement. Kuzminski’s fines.
31:31, 13 minutes: Fournier compares.
33:31, 14 min.: Valančiūnas colon.
French leader Evan Fournier without substitution efficiency for one and a half half – 14 minutes and 53 seconds. He scored 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting (3/3 doubles, 3/7 triples, 2/2 free), 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 17 assists. The entire team collected 27 utility points and 31 points.
36:31, 16 min.: Grigoni’s two-pointer with a foul.
36:33, 17 minutes: Fallo penalties.
39:35, 18 min.: Grigonis makes a three-pointer. Tarpey’s point gain.
Eigirdas Žukauskas debuts in the European Championship. It was released after Valančiūnas’ second foul. At the end of the first half, Martynas Echodas also appeared on the field for a short time, who was lifted due to fouls – then our team could violate the rules in defense.
39:37, 19 minutes: Albicy outbreak.
41:39, 20 minutes: Brazdeikis colon. Fournier and Gobert penalties.
Lithuania: Marius Grigonis 11, Jonas Valančiūnas 9, Ignas Brazdeikis 8.
France: Evan Fournier 18, Moustapha Fallas 6.
Before the match, the Lithuanians were afraid of how they would do in the fight for the balls, because the French are extremely athletic. During the first two quarters, our team caught 16 balls, while the French – 15.
In both teams, two players compete with almost no substitutions. Fournier (18 points) spent 18 minutes and 14 seconds on the court, and Domantas Sabonis – 17 minutes and 52 seconds, during which he scored 2 points, had 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
The statistics of both teams are almost identical. Lithuanian colons – 10/17, French – 11/20. Lithuanian three-pointers – 4/12, French – 3/9. Both teams had 10 free throws and 9 shots each.
The Lithuanians lost to Slovenia (85:92) in the first B groups, while the French had to accept Germany’s advantage (63:76).
“First of all, the French are always one of the most physical and athletic teams,” Lithuanian national team coach Evaldas Beržininkaitis told the BasketNews website. – Both in size and bodies. This allows them to dominate the ball, play quite hard defensively, and our offense to gather very, very quickly. The size of their hands, anthropometric data are really impressive. Such things allow them to be on a high.”
Kazios Maksvytis’ comment:
Comment by Ignos Brazdeikis:
Comment from Rudy Gobert:
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