JV at EuroBasket 2013 is Done, Lithuania Gets Silver

[AK47MVP]

The offense is better with Valanciunas - nobody is arguing that. But you cant be truly implying that he's a better defender then Javtokas?

There are certain defensive aspects where JV is better - shot blocking and defensive rebounding for example. Javtokas is better in pick and roll defense and defensive rotations. When it comes to today's game I already listed three reasons why starting Javtokas failed, please do not defend Kazlauskas in this case, I like him as a coach but starting Javtokas resulted in horrible start of the game for LT.

[ATLTimekeeper]

He probably shouldn't have started the tournament by benching the guy who was their best player during the friendlies. That being said, I do think the vets play better with Javtokas. They don't have to worry as much on defense and they don't have to ever pass him the ball. The Lithuanian system of the past few years that I've paid attention has been perimeter oriented.

[LithuanianOne]

The offense is better with Valanciunas - nobody is arguing that. But you cant be truly implying that he's a better defender then Javtokas?

There are certain defensive aspects where JV is better - shot blocking and defensive rebounding for example. Javtokas is better in pick and roll defense and defensive rotations. When it comes to today's game I already listed three reasons why starting Javtokas failed, please do not defend Kazlauskas in this case, I like him as a coach but starting Javtokas resulted in horrible start of the game for LT.

So overall Javtokas is better defender then JV. Then it seems like a pretty logical choice to start him against a team whose offfense is centered towards their C.
Now not doubling Kristic is a choice that can be easily questioned.

[HSTRIP]

Could someone please post JV's stats? Thanks!

[UcanUwill]

It could have easily been Serbia trying to match Lithuania's post presence. Jonas faced Krstic few times when paying for Rytas, and it always been a fair game. Serbia fully cashed in on his center's talents, while Lithuania spent entire preparation trying to coach their C back to basketball, aka garbage man mode... And let him use that fake, but red light his shooting. I hope they're happy now.
Medic and I said this will happen, haven't we.

[BlackFalconGSW]

Yeah, what was up with that? Germany is missing Dirk, Kaman, or any other semblance of NBA-level talent.

Dennis Schroeder.

[BlackFalconGSW]

Could someone please post JV's stats? Thanks!

2 pts, 2 reb, 2to, 1/1 fg, -8, 11min

[theycallmeZZ]

Yeah, what was up with that? Germany is missing Dirk, Kaman, or any other semblance of NBA-level talent.

Dennis Schroeder.

I thought he wasn't playing?

[JV4MVP]

Dennis Schroeder.

I thought he wasn't playing?

He's not.

From the boxscore Germany had a well balanced approach.

Tony Parker on =/- was -15, Diaw -19, Batum -14. Crazy

[AK47MVP]

So overall Javtokas is better defender then JV. Then it seems like a pretty logical choice to start him against a team whose offfense is centered towards their C.
.

No, it is not logical choice to start marginally better defender and sacrifice offense because of that. We scored 10 pts in the first quarter, our offense looked atrocious. Krstic was yawning and resting on defense instead of battling JV in the paint.
I am always pissed at coaches who trying to matchup with opponent by either accepting and playing small ball or using" so called better defenders" and sacrificing offense. Good coach forces other coach to matchup vs you - that's what Ivkovic did....Kazlauskas response was like Casey's two PG lineups or putting Bargnani on Walton, lol.
Lt allowed only 63 pts - that's quite good defense I must say. We lost because we could not score, not because we could not defend.

[goodjoey]

ummm 3 mins left and down 7....and val isnt playing? wtf is going on.

Have you been watching the game at all? Jonas is one of the worst players on the court today.

really? thats what you got from the game? that JONAS was one of the worst? bahahaha

[Macho]

This ain't summer league, my Serbs look good.

Val will turn it around I expect him to have a big game tomorrow.

[rottenzombie]

Valuncinas made a good looking basket. But the majority of the time I watched the game, it seemed no one was willing to pass him the ball, even when he had decent position. There was one instance where Kleiza got into the paint and the defenders left JV; instead of dishing it off for an easy bucket, Kleiza chose to take on the defender and miss.

Defensively JV got abused by Kristic, whether 1 on 1 or on PnR, no excuse there. Kristic is just far more experienced and skilled than JV.

[Clementine9]

Valuncinas made a good looking basket. But the majority of the time I watched the game, it seemed no one was willing to pass him the ball, even when he had decent position. There was one instance where Kleiza got into the paint and the defenders left JV; instead of dishing it off for an easy bucket, Kleiza chose to take on the defender and miss.

Defensively JV got abused by Kristic, whether 1 on 1 or on PnR, no excuse there. Kristic is just far more experienced and skilled than JV.

It's weird. Val seems to do a good job of using his strength on offense, but a bad job on defense. I don't know if he's just worried about getting cheap fouls or what but he looks weak on D sometimes... and we know he's obviously strong.

[Regulio]

I think it was a logical choice to start Javtokas. He is a much better defender than JV. That decision was a failure though as it didn't help stopping Krstic.
Like someone already told, we lost due to our awful offense. Too random, Serbs just played and defended much better, they didn't let us play our game at all. Kudos to them really, great performance, great team spirit.
Hopefully we will bounce back as we are much better than the performance shown yesterday. Only Kalnietis and Darjusz showed up.
JV played bad, no way around it. He was in foul trouble, didn't defend good at all, didn't compensate on offense too. Really no excuses for him. Great pass to Seibutis though who was so overwhelmed by the occasion that managed to miss an open layup. Really sums it all about yesterday.

[BackseatBoss]

To Raptors fans that don't understand why Jonas played so little and only got 1 FG attempt: he was terrible. I'm one of his biggest fanboys on this board and believe me, he looked miserable. Quick fouls, couldn't do anything on defense, couldn't get open on offense, didn't do anything on the court. Of course you should add in the fact that Lithuania's guards are simply terrible and can't give any entry passes. Still, I don't think you can blame the coach, Jonas just wasn't good and tried to just overpower his opponents, which was his main problem. He looked nothing like the player who dominated the summer league and looked great in friendly games, that's just the sad truth. Hopefully today he'll have a bounceback game.

[Johnny Firpo]

Not much to draw from this game imo, he was in foul trouble.

[DG88]

Hopefully this game lowers people expectation of Jonas becoming a top 5 C this year. The kids just 21 give him some time. He didn't have a great game but he should bounce back.

[Kastas]

Not much to draw from this game imo, he was in foul trouble.

On the contrary, this game has shown that if you study both JV's post moves you can defend him fairly easy. Krstić read him as an open book.

[Johnny Firpo]

Not much to draw from this game imo, he was in foul trouble.

On the contrary, this game has shown that if you study both JV's post moves you can defend him fairly easy. Krstić read him as an open book.

Yes, because obviously from here on now, every single post move he attempts is going to be an offensive foul, or a bad shot. Come on now. It was one game. Just because the defender will know what JV will do, doesn't mean he's gonna be able to stop it.