- You can check out the moments from the game in our photo gallery.
Lithuanians started the game poorly and fell behind 16-5 early on due to a huge number of turnovers while China was keeping the ball safe and committed their first turnover only after eleven minutes of play.
However, the class between the teams shined through as Lithuania managed to close the gap and turn the game their way taking a 36-34 lead despite China keeping the turnovers incredibly low.
Martynas Gecevicius scored a couple of three-pointers in a row to fuel a 16-3 Lithuanian run, by the end of which the Baltic side held a fairly comfortable lead at 64-51.
When it seemed that the game was over, China struck back with a 11-1 run to get back within five points at 67-62.
From here on it was Linas Kleiza who dominated the game scoring ten straight point to seal the Lithuanian victory.
Lithuania: Linas Kleiza 30 (14/20 2PT, 9 rebounds),
Martynas Gecevičius 18, Mantas Kalnietis 11 (5 assists), Martynas Pocius 7,
Paulius Jankūnas 5 (7 rebounds).
China: Liu Wei 21, Yi Jianlian 11 (12 rebounds), Zhi Zhi Wang 11, Wang
Shipeng 10.
Kestutis Kemzura (head coach of Lithuania): “There are no more easy games in this tournament. There’s no difference what the lead is at the end of the game as the game is all or nothing and it’s all about the victory. We started the game slow again and I don’t have an answer for that. That’s becoming a bad tradition of ours. However, the good tradition is that we still end up winning.
I want to say a good word to the opponents. The Chinese came to fight and gave their best. I think that some of our players felt the player and start to hurry as it was their first major tournament. However, we worked out another victory. The bench helped us a lot and Linas Kleiza was just amazing!”
