By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — You never quite know what will come out of David Blatt’s mouth, but it is always interesting, often controversial (such as what he said last summer about the Soviet Union rightfully winning the 1972 gold medal game against the United States at the Munich Olympics in 1972), and sometimes right on point. Emphasis on sometimes. Two examples from his post-game comments after Thursday night’s 77-67 victory over Serbia put Blatt’s Russian team into the semifinals of EuroBasket. _ “Viktor Khryapa was
Eurobasket: France beats Greece with talent, mentality
By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — Historically, when the French have played the Greeks, the script has so often played out the same way: It would be a close game in the fourth quarter, and the French would then fall apart like they were mimicking the recent Greek economy. So when Thursday’s quarterfinal was a two-point game with 2:01 left, the French should have been predisposed to expect the worst. Who would make the crucial mistake? Who would commit a stupid foul? Who would let
Eurobasket: Lithuania keeps Olympic hopes alive
By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — The home team at EuroBasket still has a chance to make it to the Olympics, but it’ll be 10 months before Lithuania knows for sure. Sarunas Jasikevicius’ seventh assist of the afternoon, a pass to wide-open teammate Mantas Kalnietis behind the 3-point line, gave Lithuania a 79-77 lead over Slovenia with 19 seconds remaining. Jaka Lakovic missed a shot inside with 6 seconds remaining, Kalnietis made one of two shots from the foul line with 3.3 seconds remaining, and Slovenia’s last chance
Eurobasket: Dancer of the Day (Final Edition)
KAUNAS, Lithuania — Sadly, there will be no more Dancer of the Day entries from EuroBasket. Now that the tournament has moved to Kaunas, the setup in the arena is different than it was in Vilnius. The media is restricted to one end zone area of the arena, and the dancers are stationed at the other end of the arena. There is no free movement between the two zones (Lithuanian security guards take themselves quite seriously), and thus no opportunity to
Eurobasket: Macedonia stuns Lithuania, 67-65
By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — Just when you thought you’ve seen it all … Well, you’ve never seen it all. That’s something you always have to keep in mind when attending a FIBA tournament. Greece defeating the United States in the semifinals of the World Championship in Japan in 2006? That was right up there, probably No. 1 in my book. Russia beating Spain in Madrid for the gold medal at EuroBasket in 2007? Yeah, that’s up there, too. Might have been the closest
Eurobasket: Navarro’s shooting leads Spain past Slovenia
By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — He had said it so many times over the course of EuroBasket, Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo was starting to sound like a broken record: “The 3-point shooting will come. It can come at any time, and it will come.” It certainly did, and it came in such a quick blast that a surprisingly close game became a blowout in an instant. Spain made seven 3-pointers on 10 attempts in the third quarter, starting with one by Rudy Fernandez
The undefeated crab says Lithuania will win
By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — The Lithuanian news portal delfi.lt has a crab named Lazdeika (named after a legendary ancient Lithuanian wizard) in their office in Vilnius, and this is no ordinary crab. Before each game Lithuania has played, the crab has correctly predicted the winner. So far, the crab is 8-0. Here is how the crab prediction works: Two empty shells are set up on each side of the crab’s tank (it is the same size as a small fish tank). The
If Nachbar returns to NBA, he’d say “Yo” to Brooklyn
By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — Bostjan Nachbar indeed wants to get back into the NBA, and don’t be surprised if he ends up in one of three places: New Jersey, Toronto or Detroit. Nachbar, who has been working out for two weeks after having surgery to remove loose cartilage from his ankle, arrived Tuesday in this quaint Lithuanian city to provide color commentary for Slovenian television as his homeland plays in the quarterfinals. He has spent the past three years playing in Russia