Rokas Jokubaitis came up big in the second half as he provided the creative spark Lithuania needed to see off Greece and secure their place in the quarter finals of the FIBA World Cup
Technically speaking, this was only an elimination game for Greece. In reality, Lithuania didn’t fancy the cards falling their way if they lost. All the talk beforehand and everything visible on the court said as much, this was an elimination game in all but name. The ghosts of 2017 hung over this fixture, when an understrength and lacklustre looking Greece found its one good night in Istanbul to send a previously perfect Lithuania packing.
That meant we were guaranteed that this would be a fight more than a basketball game and it was a slugfest from the off with Lithuania leaning on Rokas Jokubaitis for its big hits while Thomas Walkup did the walloping for Greece. Space on the interior was non-existent with both sides going from deep as much out of necessity as opportunity.
Walkup was on a mission. He may not have Greek blood but my word did he have the heart of his Mediterranean brethren on the floor, going at the Lithuanians over and over. His job was simple, keep Lithuania guessing and make it work. He was Mr Outside and Mr Inside in one as he dared defenders to guess his next act.
You know that standard pose where a player bends over while waiting for another to take a free throw? It’s a chance to take a breath and all that. Yeah, Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Jonas Valanciunas looked like they badly needed those deep breaths just 13 minutes into the game. This was last man standing basketball. Lithuania’s ceiling in this tournament was always going to come down to this game even before it was certain to happen and they looked to be wilting.
In that kind of a game, it helps to be the team with Giannoulis Larentzakis. The man is unquestionably a lunatic but he knows how to deliver when it’s a do or die situation. His drives took a while to get going but he wore down the LTU interior D and that started to open things up for the Greeks.
BallinEurope is ramping up its YouTube game this season. Subscribe to our channel now for player exclusives, analysis videos, and much more.
The control that Dimitris Itoudis demanded was manic. Right out of one simply executed play by Lithuania from their timeout, he called his own. There was not going to be a late half rally on his watch. Greece were going to decide the terms of battle with no exception as long as he could control things.
Greece will not do what Spain did last year, but Thomas Walkup is doing everything that Lorenzo Brown did and more #FIBAWC
— Aris Barkas (@arbarkas) September 1, 2023
But make no mistake, Greece were living and dying with whatever Walkup did. Whereas Ioannis Papapetrou and Larentzakis were the heroes against New Zealand, with Walkup saying the latter is giving him grey hairs, it was all on Walkup to be Greece’s version of what Lorenzo Brown was for Spain a year ago.
He was bringing the sport down to the simplest level. There’s him, there’s the opponent, and there’s the ball, so let’s see who is better. Walkup’s battles would decide the war for the rest of the Greeks on the floor.
BallinEurope has a book, a real life actual book called I Like it Loud, and you can buy it on Amazon now. It’s here as a book and here in Kindle form.
Jokubaitis was the key piece of the puzzle for Lithuania. His inspired start to the second half put Lithuania back on top. It’s not just the raw scoring with Jokubaitis, although that tends to be leaned on with him at club level, but he’s the only quality creator this roster has that’s capable of hurting opponents at this level.
That basically created a simplified challenge for Walkup. Simple but not easy as Jokubaitis ramped things up by taking on the heavy workload for his side to keep those around him fresh entering the business stage of proceedings.
Suddenly a once tired Kuzminskas was leaping with glee after a three extended the lead and the all out attack on the boards was creating second chance opportunities galore. As the Greek legs tired and their heads dropped, the LTU players went in for the kill. Revenge for Istanbul was theirs and now they could challenge the USA knowing that, no matter what, they would be playing in the knockout rounds.
Leave a Reply