Back to the wall after two defeats in two games, Lithuania had to react in a new shock against Germany this Sunday. Typically the kind of match where leaders are expected to step-up. This is exactly what Jonas Valanciunas did, absolutely huge in the… defeat of his people.
Yesterday’s setback against France inevitably stuck in his throat. Overall struggling in attack with his 4/11 shooting (3/9 from 2-points) and not helped either by his racket buddy Domantas Sabonis, Jonas had left the Cologne hall with his head down. This Sunday against Germany? Another defeat at the end for the Lithuanians, a Sabonis once again in the hard for a good part of the match, but then Valanciunas… clearly he was not there to laugh. 35 minutes of play in total, 34 points scored (10/15 in shooting), 14 rebounds swallowed, 5 caviars distributed, 2 balloons blocked, and no less than 17 free throws caused (for 14 successes). In basketball jargon, this is called a construction site. An XXL construction site. Apart from a complicated start to the match against a Daniel Theis ready to take up the challenge (spoiler he will end up on the bench because of five faults), the man with the look of a lumberjack imposed his 2m13 and 120 kilos to carry all a nation on its broad shoulders in an already crucial EuroBasket first-round game. And at some point, we thought that was enough. When he scored his two shots to give Lithuania a four-point lead – their biggest lead of the game – in the first overtime, we thought Germany had squandered their chance against the steamroller. Jonas, already author of the equalizer tap in the final moments of the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately for Valanciunas, what followed once again resembled the scenario of the first two games against Slovenia and France. Finally dominated in the money time, Lithuania fell in double overtime 109-107 after a final failure by Arnas Butkevicius from 3-pointers, while Jonas was… on the bench. Like us, he watched the ball ricochet off the hoop, seeing all of his enormous efforts come to naught. Hard, very hard for Valanciunas who could hardly bring more than he brought this afternoon in the vibrant hall of Cologne. Regrets, there are bound to be some on the Lithuanian side, but unlike the match against France on Saturday, the Pelicans pivot was able to leave the room with his head held high. In the end, Jonas has probably just released the greatest performance of this start to the Euro, in the craziest match of this European championship, and that’s still not nothing in view of the craziness that has already animated the first days of competition.
Jonas Valanciunas gave it his all, the success Jonas Valanciunas would have deserved, but he and his team once again find themselves on the losing side. Three defeats in three games in total for Lithuania, it will absolutely be necessary to ensure the last two against Bosnia and Hungary to see the color of the round of 16.