LTU – Bang the drums – Lithuania are back!

ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) - There is nothing so dangerous as a wounded lion.

You’ve heard that one before.

Lithuania were a wounded lion in the build-up to the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Remember when they won just once at EuroBasket 2009 in Poland?

Remember the injuries and international retirements that kept others out of this year’s squad?

None of it mattered in the end, not when you watched Lithuania utterly annihilate Argentina – the number one team in the FIBA World Rankings – on Thursday night.

Going up against a side that had Luis Scola, a strong candidate for MVP honors at the event, Lithuania turned in one of the best efforts in their long and famous history, winning 104-85.

“The best performance in this World Cup was tonight by Lithuania,” Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said, “because don't forget that in front of them was Argentina.

“(We have) No excuse. We weren't tired, or thinking about the Brazil/Argentina game. No excuse. They beat Argentina.”

The victory was Lithuania’s seventh straight at the World Championship.

No one saw this amazing run coming.

The national team was in total disarray after Poland.

Coach Ramunas Butautas had resigned and Kestutis Kemzura, who had coached Latvia at EuroBasket 2009, was handed the reins.

Because of their woeful EuroBasket last year in Poland, Lithuania needed a wild card just to make the 24-team field in Turkey.

“After what happened last year, no one believed in us except us,” Lithuania captain Robertas Javtokas said.

Hoping that veterans would return to the squad and help the national team once again become one of the leading sides in international basketball, senior players, for one reason or another, stayed away.

There was so much negativity around the program, at least looking at the situation from the outside, that a hard campaign in Turkey seemed inevitable.

But Kemzura, taking some of the players from Poland and a host of youngsters like Martynas Pocius, players that were champing at the bit to get a chance with the senior team, won all of their games and then beat China before destroying Argentina.

“I will say it like this,” Kemzura said to FIBA.com.

“We are a small nation, but it's our phenomenon, to find some resources and when it's tough, to come together and never give up.

“I like to compare a basketball game with a country's life.

“Our country has a lot of downs and tough moments, but we survive. We survive.

“You can beat us, you can win, but you cannot destroy us. This is the amazing thing about our country.”

Kemzura’s orders on Thursday night were to stop Scola.

Lithuania captain Robertas Javtokas and reserve Paulius Jankunas gave the superstar no room to maneuver in, or around the paint.

If the Argentina players managed to get Scola the ball, guards dropped down to double-team and prevent him from attacking the basket, or making a pass to an open teammate.

Lithuania defended with such ferocity it seemed they had not just five players on the court, but six or even seven.

They were everywhere.

At the other end of the floor, Lithuania did what they do best.

They buried three-pointer after three-pointer after three-pointer.

By half-time, they had made eight of 10 shots from long range and led 50-30.

There was no way back for Argentina.

It can be an emotional experience to sit and watch a Lithuania team play.

For the entire game against Argentina, the Lithuania fans beat their drums and unfurled their giant flag.

“Basketball is the number one sport in our country,” Javtokas said.

“It’s great for us to have had a great tournament considering we’ll be hosting the EuroBasket next year.”

It’s incredible to think there had been concerns that Lithuania might not have a good team next summer.

“We came together at the start of the summer and I tried to bring all of the best players,” Kemzura said.

“I was thinking the best (staying positive) when we were together. For different reasons, players couldn't join us, so we started with what was next.

“Those (young) guys got a big chance. It was a big challenge for them, and for me, and we worked so hard this summer.

“The hardest part was making cuts. Everyone worked so hard and did everything we asked of them. In the end, we just made decisions on positions and the style.”

It’s not just one, two or three guys that are winning games for Lithuania.

Against Argentina, seven players reached double figures in points.

“The way we play is how I understand basketball,” Kemzura said.

“For me, basketball is a team game.

“Maybe one day, you have to make shots, but when you can't, you have to find another way to win. This isn’t something I need to say to them because we are playing unselfish (basketball), doing everything for the win.”

Now it’s time for another game against the United States (16.00 GMT on FIBATV.com).

The two sides clashed back in 2000 in the Semi-Finals of the Sydney Olympics, a contest won 85-83 by the heavily-favored Americans in the last seconds.

The two sides had two meetings at the Athens Olympics.

Lithuania won the first game 94-90 but then lost to the USA in the bronze-medal game, 104-96.

In a warm-up game in Spain this summer, the Americans beat the Lithuanians.

Sergio Hernandez, the Argentina coach, thinks Lithuania can beat the Americans this time.

“I thought before the game that if we beat Lithuania, we had a chance against the USA,” Hernandez said.

“They have a big chance.

“If they can play with this concentration, discipline, confidence - sure they can beat the USA and the USA know that.”

FIBA
Jeff Taylor