Lithuania national basketball team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lithuania

Lietuva

FIBA ranking

5^th

Joined FIBA

1992

FIBA zone

FIBA Europe

National federation

LKF

Coach

Ramūnas Butautas

Olympic Games

Appearances

Medals

1992, 1996, 2000

World Championships

Appearances

Medals

None

Eurobasket

Appearances

Medals

1937, 1939, 2003

1995

2007

Uniforms



Light



Dark

The Lithuania national basketball team represents Lithuania in international basketball matches.

Lithuanian men competed in two of the pre-war Eurobasket competitions for the European championship. They won both the Eurobasket 1937 and Eurobasket 1939 competitions. The 1939 team was led by Pranas Lubinas (Frank Lubin), who helped popularize basketball in the country and was called the "Grandfather of Lithuanian Basketball."

During the Soviet era, Lithuanian players frequently formed the core of the Soviet national team. This was especially so for the 1988 Olympic gold medal winners, which got most of their scoring from four Lithuanians, namely Valdemaras Chomičius, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Arvydas Sabonis.

After the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1990, the national team was resurrected largely through the efforts of Marčiulionis, who left the Soviet Union in 1989 to play in the NBA. Lithuania won bronze medals in the first three Olympics to feature NBA players—1992, 1996, and 2000, and finished fourth in 2004.

The Lithuanian team won the Eurobasket 1937, 1939 and Eurobasket 2003.

1 Achievements
2 2006 FIBA World Championship
3 Eurobasket 2007
4 Beijing 2008
5 Eurobasket 2009, FIBA World Champs 2010, Eurobasket 2011 and 2012 Summer Olympics
6 Notable players
7 Rosters

[edit] Achievements

[edit] Olympic Games record

1992 -
1996 -
2000 -
2004 - 4
2008 - Qualified

[edit] European Championship record

1937 -
1939 -
1946 to 1991 - Could not enter because of Soviet Union occupation
1995 -
1997 - 6th
1999 - 5th
2001 - 11th
2003 -
2005 - 5th
2007 -

[edit] World Championship record

1998 - 7th
2006 - 7th

[edit] 2006 FIBA World Championship

7th-8th place play-offs - 2006 FIBA World Championships.

In the 2006 FIBA World Championship Lithuania finished 7th. This equalled their best ever finish, achieved in 1998, but some saw this as an under-achievement. They started the tournament with a narrow 2-point loss to Turkey. In their second match they lost to, eventual finalists, Greece in overtime. In that game they made 25 turnovers which was one of a couple of matches where they made a large number of mistakes. Their third game against Qatar was an easy victory 106:65. This restored some confidence ahead of the must-win match against Australia as they won it 78:57. Their last group match against Brazil was close in the end, as Brazil lost it by 5 points 79:74. This ensured Lithuania's advance to the eighth-finals to face Italy. They won the match by 3 points 71:68, although Arvydas Macijauskas fouled an Italian player during a 3-point attempt in the dying seconds which gave Italy the chance to level the score, but all 3 free throws were missed. They lost their quarter final match against, eventual champions, Spain by 22 points. Lithuania turned the ball over 28 times during that match. They lost to Turkey in over-time of the 5th-8th place classification round, in which they wasted a 12-point lead in the last 3 minutes of the fouth quarter to take the match into over-time and eventually lost the 5-minute over-time 20:9. The final result was 95:84 to Turkey. They won their last match against Germany 77:62, and thus equalled their best-ever finish of 7th. Sireika resigned soon after the championship.

On December 28, 2006, Ramūnas Butautas was announced as the new coach of the team.

[edit] Eurobasket 2007

Lithuania vs Spain in Gijón (2007-08-16).

Meeting of bronze medalists in Vilnius, 17 September 2007.

Team Lithuania for Eurobasket 2007:

No	Position	Player	Year of birth	Club before Eurobasket 2007
4	Guard	Rimantas Kaukėnas	1977	Montepaschi Siena
5	Point guard	Giedrius Gustas	1980	BK Barons/LMT
6	Forward	Jonas Mačiulis	1985	Žalgiris Kaunas
7	Center	Darjuš Lavrinovič	1979	UNICS Kazan
8	Forward	Ramūnas Šiškauskas	1978	Panathinaikos BC
9	Forward	Darius Songaila	1978	NBA Washington Wizards
10	Forward	Simas Jasaitis	1982	Tau Vitoria
11	Forward	Linas Kleiza	1985	NBA Denver Nuggets
12	Forward	Kšyštof Lavrinovič	1979	Montepaschi Siena
13	Point guard	Šarūnas Jasikevičius	1976	NBA Golden State Warriors
14	Forward	Paulius Jankūnas	1984	Žalgiris Kaunas
15	Center	Robertas Javtokas	1980	Dynamo Moscow

coach Ramūnas Butautas
assistant Rimas Kurtinaitis
assistant Robertas Kuncaitis
assistant Donaldas Kairys
assistant Virginijus Mikalauskas
press officer Linas Kunigėlis
doctor Vytenis Trumpickas
doctor Rimtautas Gudas

Lithuanian basketball team of 2007 finished Eurobasket 2007 with 8-1 record winning the first ever bronze medal in Eurobasket tournaments. Winning this game Lithuania qualified for the Olympic basketball tournament at Beijing 2008.

[edit] Beijing 2008

Lithuania earned it's place at the 2008 Summer Olympics by winning third place at Eurobasket 2007. Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics will be held from August 9 to 2008-08-24.

Team Lithuania candidates for Beijing 2008:

#	Position	Player	Year of birth	Last club before the tournament	Notes
#	Guard	Šarūnas Jasikevičius	1976	Panathinaikos BC
#	Guard	Rimantas Kaukėnas	1977	Montepaschi Siena
#	Guard/Forward	Ramūnas Šiškauskas	1978	CSKA Moscow
#	Forward	Linas Kleiza	1985	NBA Denver Nuggets
#	Forward	Simas Jasaitis	1982	Tau Vitoria
#	Forward	Jonas Mačiulis	1985	Žalgiris Kaunas
#	Forward/Center	Darjuš Lavrinovič	1979	UNICS Kazan
#	Forward	Kšyštof Lavrinovič	1979	Montepaschi Siena
#	Forward	Darius Songaila	1978	NBA Washington Wizards
#	Forward	Paulius Jankūnas	1984	Žalgiris Kaunas
#	Center	Žydrūnas Ilgauskas	1975	NBA Cleveland Cavaliers
#	Center	Robertas Javtokas	1980	Dynamo Moscow
#	Guard	Marius Prekevičius	1985	Šiauliai
#	Guard	Rolandas Alijevas	1985	CSK VVS Samara
#	Guard	Mantas Kalnietis	1986	Žalgiris Kaunas
#	Guard	Tomas Delininkaitis	1982	Mariupol Azovmash
#	Guard/Forward	Mindaugas Lukauskis	1979	Lietuvos rytas
#	Forward/Center	Antanas Kavaliauskas	1982	Panionios BC
#	Center	Marius Petravičius	1979	Lietuvos rytas
#	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 traumas.
#	Guard	Artūras Milaknis	1986	Žalgiris Kaunas	Added to the list after Jomantas and Seibutis traumas.
#	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 trauma.

Head coach Ramūnas Butautas
Coach Rimas Kurtinaitis
Coach Robertas Kuncaitis
Assistant Virginijus Mikalauskas
Scout Donaldas Kairys
Doctor Vytenis Trumpickas
Doctoc Rimtautas Gudas
Doctor assistant Juozas Petkevičius
Doctor assistant Aleksėj Peletskij
Press officer Linas Kunigėlis
Administrator Mindaugas Špokas
Director Šarūnas Kliokys

August 10
16:45

Lithuania

–