LTU - Kaukenas and the agony of defeat

KAUNAS (EuroBasket 2011/Olympics) - Rimantas Kaukenas has left a EuroBasket on a high before.

Back in 2007 in Spain, in his first summer with the national team, he was a key man that helped the Lithuanians capture a bronze medal to earn a trip to the Beijing Games.

He and his teammates left Madrid all smiles, knowing the country’s string of appearances at the Olympics was going to continue.

The Lithuanians have played in every Olympics since the break-up of the former Soviet Union, starting with a bronze-medal triumph in 1992.

A spot in the London Games is anything but secure right now, though.

The Baltic country had needed to reach the Final of EuroBasket 2011 to ensure their participation in London, and they didn’t even make it to the Semi-Finals after a shock 67-65 defeat to F.Y.R. of Macedonia on September 14 in Kaunas.

Kaukenas was on the floor in a chaotic last 15 seconds when Lithuania rebounded a missed shot by the Macedonians.

Lithuania had the lead, but lost their poise.

Darius Songaila attempted to quickly push the ball up the floor but his pass was batted away and into the hands of the Macedonians.

The 34-year-old Kaukenas was several feet away from a wide-open Vlado Ilievski when the Macedonia point guard buried a go-ahead three-pointer that proved to be the game-winner.

Lithuania then missed their final shot and the buzzer sounded.

No Lithuanian coach or player, including Kaukenas, or fan will ever forget the moment Ilievski’s ball fell through the hoop, or the celebrations of the Macedonian fans after the biggest win in their country’s sporting history.

Let it slip

“It's disappointing to think about the game that we lost to Macedonia," Kaukenas said to FIBA.com.

"We had that game and let it go. It slipped out of our hands.

"Unfortunately, in order for us to become a better team and to win something, you have to be able to win games when you play bad.

"The game against Macedonia, we played bad and didn't come up with the win.

"That was heartbreaking for us, a Quarter-Final that meant to go up to the top four or to go down to the next four.”

Kaukenas experienced a Semi-Final defeat to Russia at EuroBasket 2007, and a bronze-medal game defeat to Argentina at the Olympics the following year.

The loss to Macedonia in front of his own fans, though, was the most painful setback of all.

"For me, it was a little bit shocking and really disappointing,” he said.

“We felt we deserved to be in the top four.

"It is how it is and we can't change it.”

Lithuanian basketball can suffer a tough defeat, but it will never die.

That was evident the very next day when the Lithuanians had to return to the court and play Slovenia.

Kaukenas and Co needed every bit of emotion the Kaunas crowd could offer.

Must-win

While not getting the defeat to Macedonia out of their system, Lithuania did beat Slovenia 80-77, thus winning a game they had to win to earn a trip to the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

Even in the fifth-place game against Greece, a game for pride, the Lithuanians again played with heart with their fans roaring them on to a 73-69 triumph.

The upset by Macedonia had not killed a country’s love for its national team.

"The fans were great,” Kaukenas said.

"It had been a while to have such a tournament, such quality basketball players coming to play in Lithuania.

“For us, it was great having the support of the fans even to play in fifth place.

“Overall, I think the level of organisation for the EuroBasket was great and the people enjoyed this, they were very, very happy to have the tournament in Lithuania.”

Kaukenas has had to overcome serious knee injuries in his career.

He isn’t sure what the future holds for him in the national team.

Lithuania will be hoping to have Jonas Maciulis and Linas Kleiza back for next year when they try to reach the Olympics.

"I would like to be there next year but it's early to say whether or not I'll be healthy,” he said.

“There are a lot of ifs.

"But I would love to."

FIBA