Lithuania national basketball team at 2008 Olympic Games

Winning the third place game at Eurobasket 2007 against Greece allowed Lithuania to qualify for the Olympic basketball tournament at Beijing 2008 without competition at 2008 Pre-Olympics Tournament. The Lithuanian men's basketball team came in fourth place after being beaten by Argentina's basketball team, 87-75.[1]


2008 Olympic tournament roster edit

Lithuanian basketball team started its preparation for the Olympics at the end of June, 2008. After couple of training camps and preolympic friendly matches the national team was selected.

Lithuania National Basketball Team 2008 roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr.
PG 4   Kaukėnas, Rimantas 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Montepaschi Siena
SG 5   Lukauskis, Mindaugas 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) BC Lietuvos Rytas
SF 6   Mačiulis, Jonas 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 216 lb (98 kg) BC Žalgiris
C 7   Lavrinovič, Darjuš 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) UNICS Kazan
G/F 8   Šiškauskas, Ramūnas (C) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) PBC CSKA Moscow
G 9   Prekevičius, Marius 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) BC Siauliai
G/F 10   Jasaitis, Simas 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Tau Ceramica
F 11   Kleiza, Linas 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Denver Nuggets
F/C 12   Lavrinovič, Kšyštof 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Montepaschi Siena
PG 13   Jasikevičius, Šarūnas 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Panathinaikos BC
F/C 14   Petravičius, Marijonas 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) BC Lietuvos Rytas
C 15   Javtokas, Robertas 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) MBC Dynamo Moscow
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club field describes last pro club before the tournament

Candidates that didn't make for the final team:

# Position Player Year of birth Last season's club before the tournament Notes
  Forward Darius Songaila 1978   NBA Washington Wizards Couldn't play because of back injury announced 2008-07-31
  Guard Tomas Delininkaitis 1982   Mariupol Azovmash Released from the team after tour in Spain and 2008-07-25 game against Argentina
Reserve Team. Reserve team candidates were disjuncted from the main team after 2008-07-11 game against Belarus
  Guard Rolandas Alijevas 1985   CSK VVS Samara  
  Guard Mantas Kalnietis 1986   Žalgiris Kaunas  
  Forward/Center Antanas Kavaliauskas 1982   Panionios BC  
  Center Michailas Anisimovas 1984   Lietuvos rytas  
  Forward Donatas Zavackas 1980   Šiauliai  
  Forward Justas Sinica 1985   Sakalai  
  Guard Martynas Pocius 1986   NCAA Duke Blue Devils  
  Guard Steponas Babrauskas 1984   Legea Svafati Added to the list after Jomantas and Seibutis injuries.
  Guard Artūras Milaknis 1986   Žalgiris Kaunas Added to the list after Jomantas and Seibutis injuries.
Other candidates that didn't make to the training camp
  Forward Paulius Jankūnas 1984   Žalgiris Kaunas Couldn't play because of health reasons;
  Center Žydrūnas Ilgauskas 1975   NBA Cleveland Cavaliers On 2008-06-12 Cavaliers declined to give their permission to Z. Ilgauskas to play for the team.[2]
  Forward Artūras Jomantas 1985   Lietuvos rytas Couldn't play because of the rehabilitation after shoulder surgery.
  Guard Arvydas Macijauskas 1980   Olympiacos Couldn't play because of the back injury.
  Guard Renaldas Seibutis 1982   Olympiacos Couldn't play because of the injury.

Preparation matches edit

 
Lithuania vs Iceland in Vilnius (2008-07-15).
July 11, 2008
18:30
Lithuania   113–57   Belarus
Scoring by quarter: 23-23, 38-12, 25-9, 27-13
July 13, 2008
18:30
Lithuania   115–62   Iceland
Scoring by quarter: 30-19, 31-16, 22-8, 32-19
July 15, 2008
18:30
Lithuania   105–67   Iceland
Scoring by quarter: 26-18, 19-15, 28-17, 32-17
July 21, 2008
20:30
Lithuania   90–61   Portugal
Scoring by quarter: 19-8, 21-23, 22-21, 28-9
El Palacio de los Deportes de Riazor, La Coruña, Spain
July 24, 2008
20:00
Lithuania   66–91   Spain
Scoring by quarter: 20-22, 22-29, 13-20, 11-20
Pazo dos Deportes Paco Paz, Ourense, Spain
July 25, 2008
20:00
Lithuania   94–75   Argentina
Scoring by quarter: 33-14, 23-12, 17-21, 21-28
Pazo dos Deportes Paco Paz, Ourense, Spain
July 27, 2008
18:30
Lithuania   90–62   Finland
Scoring by quarter: 17-15, 11-17, 37-6, 25-22
August 1, 2008
20:00
Lithuania   84–120   United States
Scoring by quarter: 15-31, 24-25, 27-35, 18-29
Coati Strip Coati Arena, Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, Macao, China
August 2, 2008
20:00
Lithuania   82–74   Turkey
Scoring by quarter: 18-15, 23-18, 22-18, 19-23
Coati Strip Coati Arena, Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, Macao, China


Olympic games edit

Group Stage

August 10, 2008
16:45
Lithuania   79–75   Argentina
Scoring by quarter: 14-11, 20-19, 17-15, 28-30
August 12, 2008
09:00
Lithuania   99–67   Iran
Scoring by quarter: 15-20, 31-14, 28-19, 25-14
August 14, 2008
16:45
Lithuania   86–79   Russia
Scoring by quarter: 23-24, 21-17, 25-21, 17-17
August 16, 2008
14:30
Lithuania   86–73   Croatia
Scoring by quarter: 13-15, 29-30, 16-17, 28-11
August 18, 2008
11:15
Lithuania   75–106   Australia
Scoring by quarter: 14-28, 15-27, 22-20, 24-31

Quarterfinal

August 20, 2008
16:45
Lithuania   94–68   China
Scoring by quarter: 19-17, 22-13, 29-23, 24-15

Semifinal

August 22, 2008
20:00
Lithuania   86–91   Spain
Scoring by quarter: 19-21, 23-19, 24-22, 20-29

Bronze medal game

August 24, 2008
12:00
Lithuania   75–87   Argentina
Scoring by quarter: 21-24, 13-22, 15-22, 26-19

References edit

  1. ^ Argentina earns bronze, beats Lithuania. NBC Olympics. August 24, 2008. Retrieved on September 13, 2008.
  2. ^ Danny Ferry: No Olympics for Ilgauskas