FIBA – Day Two: Group A Round-Up

BEIJING (Olympics) - EuroBasket 2007 bronze medalists Lithuania, aiming to regain a spot on the Olympic medals podium, notched the first ‘upset’ result of the Olympic men’s basketball competition defeating defending Olympic gold medalists Argentina 79-75 at the Wukesong Arena on Sunday.

In other Group A action on the opening day of the men’s competition, JR Holden celebrated his 32nd birthday in style steering Russia past a defiant Iran 71-49 as Croatia beat down a fourth quarter rally by FIBA Oceania champions Australia to win 97-82.

Having been forced to settle down for a fourth-place finish at Athens 2004, Lithuania – they bagged the bronze in all their three previous Olympic appearances – were all charged up against Argentina.

Sarunas Jasikevicius, a member of the bronze-winning team at Sydney four years ago, enhanced his team’s chances to at least emulate that performance as Linas Kleiza and Robertas Javtokas chipped in.

But Argentina were not too far behind with Manu Ginobili finding support from Andres Nocioni and Carlos Delfino.

Even when Lithuania notched an 11-point lead towards the end of the fourth quarter, Argentina fought back to level the score at 75, with a minute-and-half left.

But at this juncture, Linas Kleiza sunk the most important three points of his team-high 13 points, capitalizing on a Jasikevicius assist, which clinched the issue.

“It was not a difficult shot,” Kleiza spoke of that success later. “I was open and I was able to knock it down.”

“Argentina is the Olympic champion and it speaks for itself,” Jasikevicius said of the result. “For us to start the Olympics in this way, it’s incredible. Let’s keep it going.”

“If we are smart enough, if we are good enough, this win hopefully will give us a better chance in the quarter-final.”

Lithuania take on Iran on Tuesday.

“We didn’t play intelligently as we usually do,” said Ginobili, who had a game-high 19 points.

“We played against a good team. Lithuania gave more than we did and they took an advantage and that was that.”



Earlier, EuroBasket 2007 winners Russia kick-started the men’s competition, handing down a few lessons to FIBA Asia Champions Iran.

American JR Holden continued from where he left – after steering Russia to the title in the European title last year – with a game high performance of 19 points and five steals.

“It was our first game and we were a little nervous,” the CSKA Moscow guard who turned 32 today, said later.

“Iran put some pressure on us but overall, we played a good game and got the win we wanted.”

Andrei Kirilenko, who carried the Russian flag in the Parade of Nations during the Olympic Ceremony, was there at hand to provide Holden support – with 15 points along with pulling down five rebounds.

Iran, who seemed well within shot of their much more fancied rivals – trailing by only eight points at the end of the third quarter – withered in the fourth quarter under the sustained pressure.

Samad Nikkah and Mahdi Kamrani were their usual selves, but their Saba Battery teammate Hamed Ehadadi struggled to find his rhythm on the big stage.

Russia take on Croatia Tuesday.

Croatia had no trouble whatsoever in beating Australia.

With their outside shooting clicking almost to perfection, the Jasmin Repesa-trained Croats hit three-pointers almost at will, with Marko Tomas succeeding in all his four attempts.

The Oceania outfit outscored their European rivals 29-24 in the fourth quarter, but that proved insufficient to nullify the deficits they had suffered at the end of the previous three.

“Our three-point shooting has been incredible, in the first half we were seven of eight from behind the arc and we finished with a percentage higher than 70,” Repesa said later.

“I am extremely happy with this win,” he added.

Guard Zoran Planinic, who sank two three-pointers in his game-score of 10 said: “Our strength is that we play team basketball. It’s not just one player, but 12 players.” A fact that reflected in the team’s scoring pattern with five players logging in double-digit scores.

Australia take on Argentina on Tuesday.

Scores
Russia 71 (JR Holden 19, Andrei Kirilenko 15, Alexei Savrasenko 11) bt Iran 49 (Samad Nikkah 16, Mahdi Kamrani 11). Quarterwise Scores: 24-5, 38-22, 46-38.

Lithuania 79 (Linas Kleiza 13, Robertas Javtokas 12, Sarunas Jasikevicius 10, Ramunas Siskauskas 10, Marijonas Petravicius 10) bt Argentina 75 (Manu Ginobili 19, Andres Nocioni 15, Carlos Delfino 13). Quarterwise scores: 14-11, 34-30, 51-45.

Croatia 97 (Nikola Prkacin 16, Marko Banic 16, Marko Tomas 12, Zoran Planinic 12) bt
Australia 82 (Matt Nielsen 13, David Barlow 12, Andrew Bogut 10). Quarterwise Scores: 21-14, 47-31, 73-53

FIBA