Lithuania Collapses Late, Loses to Italy in World Cup Qualifiers

The Lithuanian national basketball team experienced a devastating late-game collapse, falling 84-87 to Italy in Bologna during the first stage of World Cup qualifiers. Despite holding a significant double-digit lead with only minutes remaining, the team faltered, ultimately losing a winnable game.

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We lost a game we had won. Certain decisions at the end of the match were not what we would have wanted. Many unlucky incidents. It's a great pity we lost. I am grateful to the men for fighting. Everything happens, you lose games. We simply weren't lucky.

This defeat carries substantial implications for Lithuania's World Cup aspirations. They advance to the next stage with three losses already recorded, significantly hindering their path to qualification. In the newly formed six-team group, only three teams will secure a spot in the World Cup, making the upcoming matchups against Serbia, Turkey, and Bosnia crucial.

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I played with five small players. Yes, fatigue set in at the end of the game, but I don't think that fatigue caused the quality of decisions to drop so much. I wouldn't risk making substitutions at the end of the game because I didn't want to put players on who had been sitting on the bench for a long time. Perhaps that was one of the mistakes.

Head coach R. Kurtinaitis attributed the loss to a combination of bad luck and questionable decisions in the game's final moments. He admitted that playing with five smaller guards might have contributed to fatigue and a drop in decision-making quality, taking responsibility for one potential strategic error. However, he also expressed gratitude for the team's fight and effort, stating that sometimes teams simply "don't get lucky."

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You know, it would be a problem if players didn't care in a game of this level. They cared. Of course, we need to control ourselves, but players want to win. They wanted to win – they didn't succeed. We could have reached the championship more easily, now we have made the situation a bit more difficult, but we should not make a tragedy out of it. We are playing well, we just need to learn how to play the endings.

Despite the setback, Kurtinaitis maintained a positive outlook on the team's overall trajectory. He acknowledged the players' passion and desire to win, even if it led to some emotional exchanges with referees. "We are playing well, we just need to learn how to play the endings," he stated, emphasizing that the situation is not a "tragedy" but a learning opportunity. He believes the team is on the "right track," competing effectively against strong opponents, even if they occasionally fall short by a narrow margin.

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We have a good team, we need to work with it. I look at everything positively. Now we are playing evenly with equals. I think everything is on track. Sometimes it's just one point short. Today, a few better decisions were slightly lacking. Arvydas Sabonis once said that we used to win many games by one point, even though other teams were not worse. I think we are on the right track.