BARCELONA (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - The impact of Jonas Valanciunas loomed so large on Lithuania's Round of 16 win against New Zealand on Sunday that it extended to the point where Jonas Maciulis being mistaken for the Toronto Raptors center.

But considering the pivotal performance he had just put in - 22 points and 13 rebounds - it only seemed logical and natural that all talk should center on Valanciunas.

"I would like to be in NBA. But unfortunately I'm not him," joked Maciulis when a question 'addressed' to Valanciunas was posed to him inadvertently.

Lithuania coach Jonas Kazlauskas wasn’t surprised by the attention and performance from his spearhead.

"This is what we expect from him. We know what he is capable of," said Kazlauskas.

Our opponents didn't have a player of Valanciunas' level. We do expect more from him. - Kazlauskas

"He has matured as a player now. He is no longer the kid that he used to be. He has learned to respect every opponent. He knows the value of every game now."

Kazlauskas further analysed New Zealand's resurgence.

"I think after the good first half we lost concentration," he said.

For Maciulis, the contest turned out the way he expected it to.

"It was indeed a tough game. Everybody said we are the favorites. But we did expect a tough game. I'm really glad that we won, although we had some casualties," said the 29-year-old, who had a bandage to cover two stiches over his right eye-brow as a result of a first-quarter incident with Tom Abercrombie.

Valanciunas' performance got more than a mention even in New Zealand coach Nenad Vucinic’s assessment of the game.

"His size and his strength is very huge. It's not only the size, but he also made those shots look easy. He was incredible in free-throws which is not his normal strength. I think he was the main reason they won the game," he said.

As for his own team's play, he conceded: "We had a soft first half. We couldn’t recover from that.

"We tried to throw everything at him,” said New Zealand forward Mika Vukona about Valanciunas. "He combated all of them very well."

FIBA