Lithuanian national basketball team

World championships
Lithuania Lietuva
Lithuania
Association	Lietuvos krepšinio federacija
FIBA member since	1992
FIBA world rankings	5
Technical sponsor	Nike
Trainer	Dainius Adomaitis
Participation in the finals	3
Best results	Bronze 2010
Olympic games
Participation in the finals	6th
Best results	Bronze 1992 , 1996 , 2000
Continental championships
championship	European championships
Participation in the finals	13
Best results	Gold 1937 , 1939 , 2003 Silver 1995 , 2013 , 2015 Bronze 2007
Homepage	http://www.lbbf.lt/
(As of September 14, 2017)

The Lithuanian national basketball team represents Lithuania in international and friendly matches. Since basketball is a national sport in Lithuania , the country regularly produces players of international class. The team celebrated their last major triumph to date in 2003 when they won the European Championship .

history

As early as 1937 and 1939, Lithuanian teams were able to secure the title at the second and third European championships ever held, the latter being headed by Frank Lubin in his home town of Kaunas .

After the Second World War , in which Lithuania lost its independence, numerous Lithuanian players were able to celebrate successes with the selections of the Soviet Union . In addition to Kazys Petkevičius and the 1972 Olympic champion Modestas Paulauskas , it was above all the so-called golden generation of Lithuanian basketball around Arvydas Sabonis , Šarūnas Marčiulionis , Rimas Kurtinaitis and Valdemaras Chomičius who became Olympic champions in 1988 for the Soviet Union and then a new one after regaining independence Ushered in the era of Lithuanian successes.

In 1992 the team immediately reached the semifinals of the Olympic Games. In addition to the veterans, younger players such as Artūras Karnišovas and Gintaras Einikis were already in the squad. The 1995 European Championship was also successful with reaching the finals. At the 1996 Olympic Games , Lithuania was able to confirm the success of 1992, this time with Mindaugas Žukauskas , Darius Lukminas and Saulius Štombergas as new top performers.

In the meantime, however, the golden generation was getting on in years, so that these players no longer took part in the following European championship and the first world championship of a Lithuanian selection. Thus, comparatively disappointing results followed, although Sabonis played for Lithuania one last time at the 1999 European Championship . In Žydrūnas Ilgauskas his potential successor was found, but due to fears that he could get injured, Ilgauskas was not cleared by the NBA team Cleveland Cavaliers .

At the Olympic Games in 2000 , when Lithuania again won bronze, Šarūnas Jasikevičius , Ramūnas Šiškauskas and Darius Songaila were added as new performers. In addition to these, as well as more experienced players like Štombergas and Eurelijus Žukauskas it was Arvydas Macijauskas , who as top scorer of the team to win the European Championship in 2003 made it possible and the greatest success since re-independence after previously missed qualifying for the 2002 World Cup still a Had suffered a setback. Jasikevičius was also voted the most valuable player of the tournament.

In 2004 Lithuania reached the semifinals of the Olympic Games for the fourth time in a row, but remained without a medal for the first time. This was followed by quarterfinal defeats at the 2005 European Championships and the 2006 World Cup . In addition to Ilgauskas, Jasikevičius, meanwhile also active in the NBA, had not received approval for the World Cup. At the European Championships in 2007 Lithuania won the bronze medal and qualified again for the Olympic Games , where they again reached the semifinals. Without Jasikevičius and Šiškauskas, the team won only one game at the 2009 European Championships and was eliminated after the intermediate round. At the 2010 World Cup in Turkey, Lithuania finished third behind the USA and Turkey. Accordingly, the Lithuanian team went to the home European Championship 2011 as a favorite , but were surprisingly eliminated in the quarter-finals against Macedonia .

At the EM 2013 it was difficult to get going in the beginning, in the group with Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Latvia and Montenegro they were the favorites in first place, but they lost to Serbia (which sent an inexperienced team into the tournament) and also against Bosnia-Herzegovina, against Montenegro they only narrowly won after extra time. In the second round, the team, which placed young players like Jonas Valančiūnas or Donatas Motiejūnas in addition to top performers like Linas Kleiza or the Lavrinovič brothers , got better and better in the tournament. Clear victories against Belgium, France and Ukraine followed. In the quarter-finals, they narrowly prevailed against Italy. In the semifinals, Lithuania defeated the surprisingly strong team from Croatia with 77:62 and made it into the European Championship final for the first time since 2003, which they lost 66:80 to France.

At the 2014 World Cup , the Lithuanians reached the round of 16 after winning the preliminary round against Mexico, Angola, South Korea and Slovenia. Only the game against Australia was lost. After you had defeated New Zealand and Turkey in the subsequent knockout games, you met in the semifinals on the favored Americans, against whom you lost with a clear 68-96. In the subsequent game for third place, Lithuania just lost against France with 93-95 and thus reached fourth place.

At the EM 2015 , the Lithuanians went into the tournament as one of the favorites. Lithuania won four of the five preliminary round matches and qualified for the round of 16. The subsequent knockout games against Georgia, Italy and Serbia were also closely won. In the final you met the Spaniards around star player Pau Gasol . This gave Lithuania no chance and they were clearly defeated with 63-80. Jonas Valančiūnas and Jonas Mačiulis were recognized for their good performance during the tournament and were appointed to the All-Tournament Team.

Squad

Squad of Lithuania at the 2016 Olympic Games

player
No.	Surname	birth	size	info	Calls	society
		Guards ( PG , SG )
5	Mantas Kalnietis	09/06/1986	1.94			Italy EA7 Armani Milan
7th	Adas Juškevičius	03/01/1989	1.94			Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
10	Renaldas Seibutis	07/23/1985	1.96			Žalgiris Kaunas
93	Vaidas Kariniauskas	11/16/1993	1.97			Greece GS Kymis
		Forwards ( SF , PF )
8th	Jonas Mačiulis	02/10/1985	1.98			Spain real Madrid
11	Domantas Sabonis	05/03/1996	2.08			United States Oklahoma City Thunder
13	Paulius Jankūnas	04/28/1984	2.05			Žalgiris Kaunas
19th	Mindaugas Kuzminskas	October 19, 1989	2.04			United States New York Knicks
40	Marius Grigonis	04/26/1994	1.98			Spain ICL Manresa
		Center ( C )
12	Antanas Kavaliauskas	09/19/1984	2.08			Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
15th	Robertas Javtokas	03/20/1980	2.10	(C)		Žalgiris Kaunas
17th	Jonas Valančiūnas	05/06/1992	2.11			Canada Toronto Raptors