page_title: Lithuania men's national basketball team
section_title: EuroBasket 2013
hierarchical_section_title: Lithuania men's national basketball team / History / EuroBasket 2013
caption_attribution_description: English: Coach of Lithuanian national team of basketball Jonas Kazlauskas
context_page_description: The Lithuania men's national basketball team represents Lithuania in international basketball competitions. They are controlled by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Lithuania. Despite Lithuania's small size, with a population of less than 3 million, the country's devotion to basketball has made them a traditional force of the sport in Europe.
  The Lithuanian national team won the last EuroBasket tournaments prior to World War II, in 1937 and 1939. The 1939 team was led by Frank Lubin, who helped popularize basketball in the country and was called the "grandfather of Lithuanian basketball". Following the country's annexation by the Soviet Union during the war, Lithuanian players frequently formed the core of the Soviet national team. The most prevalent example was the 1988 Olympic basketball gold medal-winning team, which got most of its scoring from four Lithuanians: Valdemaras Chomičius, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Arvydas Sabonis.
  After the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1990, the national team was resurrected.
context_section_description: Even before EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia started, the Lithuanian team had problems: their flight on September 2 was cancelled due to airplane problems, forcing them to delay their flight until the next day, and miss their first morning workout in Podmežakla Hall. Just one day later, Lithuania played their first game against Serbia. Unable to defend Serbian star Nenad Krstić, who dominated the game with 20 points and 9 rebounds, Lithuania lost 63–56. The second game against Macedonia had many expectations, as Lithuania wanted to avenge getting upset at home in the previous tournament. Through effective defense of Bo McCalebb, the Lithuanians could get their first victory with 75–67. Two tough games followed, against fellow Balts Latvia (67–59), and Montenegro in overtime (77:70), due to Kšyštof Lavrinovič, who only scored 2 points during his first three matches, rising up to score 24 points. The group stage ended against Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose star Mirza Teletović scored 31 points and fantastic three-pointers to beat the Lithuanians 72–78, who still managed to qualify to the second round with crucial three-pointers by Linas Kleiza.
  Second round started against defending vice-champions France, which forced Lithuania into solid defense - especially against Tony Parker - to win the game 76–62. Then Lithuanians easily crushed Belgium 86–67, and narrowly defeated Ukraine with 70–63. The knockout  round wound begin against Italy, which Lithuania beat by 81–77. The semifinals with Croatia had Jonas Mačiulis, Linas Kleiza and Mantas Kalnietis dominating with 63 points combined out of the team's 77, guaranteeing Lithuania their fifth European final. The final was a rematch with France. Lithuanians only fought point-to-point in the first quarter. By the third, France finished the quarter with a 14–0 run that kept Lithuania scoreless for four minutes. Eventually the Lithuanians suffered a 66–80 defeat. Despite the deep run, some players said that it was hard to celebrate after losing the final. Still, on 23 September 2013, thousands of Lithuanians came to the Rotušės (Town Hall) square to celebrate the Lithuania national team success, and the following day the squad was greeted at the Presidential Palace.
caption: Jonas Kazlauskas returned as Lithuania manager in 2013, and successfully coached it for an Olympic period.
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Copyright": "Augustas Didzgalvis", "Image ExifOffset": "110", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated"}