Early teams (1920s) On 13 December 1925 in the
Latvian capital
Riga, Lithuanians played their first international game against their neighbors. Given the Latvians' experience with American
YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) coaches, they easily won 41–20. The Latvians also won the following year's game, 47–12. During the period, basketball saw its Lithuanian popularity declined, overshadowed by
football. The cold climate and lack of suitable indoor arena only allowed for basketball to be played during the summer period, and even then those who practiced preferred other sports.
Lithuanian Americans build a squad (1930s) in 1938 Things started to improve in 1934, when the
Physical Culture Palace was opened in
Kaunas, featuring a spacious hall with 200 seats and
cork floor built for tennis that was suitable for indoor basketball. In 1935, Lithuania decided to promote a World Lithuanian Congress in
temporary capital Kaunas, inviting ethnic Lithuanians from many countries to unite the Lithuanian culture. The following year, a delegation of
Lithuanian American athletes from
Chicago arrived in Kaunas as participants of World Lithuanian Congress. Two of the players,
Juozas "Joseph" Zukas and
Konstantinas "Konnie" Savickas, stayed to teach basketball secrets to Lithuanians and be a part of the national team. Savickus in particular became a
player-coach, and while the national team had just been trounced by
inaugural European champions Latvia 123–10, one year later, with Savickas leading the team and exploiting
stalling techniques, Lithuania trailed only 14–7 at halftime before losing 31–10. In 1936, Lithuania applied to become a member of
FIBA and take part in international basketball competitions, Lubinas, along with Zukas, helped the Lithuanians beat the Latvians for the first time, 35 to 27. in
1937 , one of the most notable basketball personalities in
interwar Lithuania The preparations for the EuroBasket 1937 started slowly, with players training only 4 hours a week. At first, it was decided that the national team at the tournament would not include any
Lithuanian Americans; however the decision was reversed with only one month remaining, once a Latvian newspaper had printed an extensive article about the second European championship considering Lithuania the weakest of all contestants. Lithuanian player
Leonas Baltrūnas was shocked at the article and along with journalist Jonas Narbutas, used a translated version of it to request the inclusion of Lithuanian Americans to
Vytautas Augustauskas, director of the Physical Culture Palace. After a telegram was sent to the US, two players arrived one month prior to the tournament,
Pranas Talzūnas and
Feliksas Kriaučiūnas, the latter of whom was designated as
player-coach. To keep secrecy on how Lithuanian Americans were strengthening the team, all preparation games were cancelled and instead prolonged training sessions before the trip to Riga were held behind closed doors. The national team was being prepared not only technically, but also physically. Even once the reinforcements were made public, opponents were skeptic, with Talzūnas later remembering other teams felt he and Kriaučiūnas were not quality players as "everyone thought that a good player must be tall, raising his hand and dunking into the basket.". The efforts were successful – the Lithuanians became the champions of Europe for the first time, defeating all their opponents and with Talzūnas being picked as the tournament's
most valuable player. Following the final victory over
Italy, the famous Lithuanian tenor
Kipras Petrauskas even interrupted his performance at the
State Theatre to joyfully announce the triumph of the national basketball team. The crowd then rose to their feet and together sang the
Lithuanian anthem. The team returned to a warm reception, with thousands gathering at a train station in a way Kriaučiūnas compared to "like we, here in America, greet the president." Basketball regained its ground immediately, and had its popularity rise abruptly, especially among students. Gymnasium teams from almost all
counties competed in student games, teams were assembled in firms and basketball courts appeared all around the country. According to future player
Stepas Butautas, "In every yard hoops are being made from barrels. Children, teenagers are throwing balls into them, others – even a sock crammed with clouts. Our Veršvai Primary School teacher K. Požemecka built two poles, made hoops from a willow and said: 'We will play basketball'." Future team coach
Vladas Garastas added that "as kids we started using a barrel to make a hoop. We didn't have a ball, we stuffed in grass or whatever we could find". . Pranas Lubinas is holding the
Lithuanian tricolor. Lithuania was granted the right to organize the
EuroBasket 1939. In addition, the
Kaunas Sports Hall, Europe's first dedicated basketball arena, was built. In the competition, the team roster mostly consisted of Lithuanian Americans, with five American-born players: the returning Feliksas Kriaučiūnas (Chicago),
Juozas Jurgėla (
Chicago),
Vytautas Budriūnas (
Waukegan),
Mykolas Ruzgys and Pranas Lubinas (
Glendale). As a result, there were several protests from other nations. Lubinas, who was the designated player-coach, lead Lithuania to a second continental title, even scoring the
buzzer-beater in the decisive game against Latvia, which warranted a 37–36 victory.
After the restoration of independence (from 1990) After
Lithuania's independence was restored, the country wanted to stand on its own in the basketball community again, complete with the standout players from the 1988 Soviet squad – Sabonis, Marčiulions, Chomičius and Kurtinaitis – expressing a desire to represent Lithuania. The
National Olympic Committee of Lithuania (LTOK) and
Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF) were restored, Lithuania withdrew its athletes from all Soviet national competitions, and both Sabonis and Marčiulions refused a request to play for the Soviet Union during the
1990 Goodwill Games. In 1991, the
International Olympic Committee welcomed Lithuania back to its ranks in September, and in December, LKF president Stanislovas Stonkus attended the FIBA congress in
Springfield, Massachusetts, and requested the right to be a full member of FIBA once again. FIBA president
George E. Killian granted Stonkus' request and invited Lithuania to participate in all of the FIBA organized events. , the first Lithuanian to play in the United States, was instrumental in getting funds for the national team's restoration. However, Lithuania's economic transition left the country in a difficult financial situation, and LKF could hardly count on state funding. As a result, the team had to search for the financial supporters by themselves in order to play internationally. Šarūnas Marčiulionis had experience and contacts in the United States from being the first USSR player in the
NBA, playing for the
Golden State Warriors. Consequently, he, along with
Donnie Nelson (son of Marčiulionis' then-coach
Don Nelson), searched for financial supporters that could finance Lithuania's participation in the international games and the
1992 Summer Olympics. George Shirk wrote a story about this on the
San Francisco Chronicle, and once American rock band
Grateful Dead read the newspaper, they decided to help the team. Drummer
Mickey Hart added that the story resonated with the bandmembers for being "a struggle for life, liberty and freedom." The bandmembers donated $5,000 to Marčiulionis, and helped launch a
tie-dyed jerseys trade that would feature
Lithuania's national colors and the iconic, trademarked 'Slam-Dunking Skeleton' created by N.Y. artist Greg Speirs. The skeleton dunking a flaming basketball, nicknamed "Skully", was the artist's interpretation of how the Lithuanian team rose from the ashes to victory. The artist's profits would be passed onto the Lithuania national basketball team and a fund for Lithuanian children. New versions of the Skully jerseys were featured in the following two Olympic Games. To assume the head coach position, American
Dan Peterson, then in Italy, was invited but declined. who was invited following Sabonis' suggestion of a
Liga ACB veteran. The eventual choice was
Vladas Garastas, another Žalgiris veteran who was assistant in the 1988 Soviet squad.
1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics Preparation for Lithuania's first major international tournament since regaining independence began in May 1992, as it was the first time a squad of players mostly playing outside the country could get together and train. The Olympic tournament for the Lithuania national team began against
China, with an overwhelming 112–75 win that featured 31 points by Rimas Kurtinaitis (5 of 6 three-pointers). Afterwards a tough match with
FIBA Americas silver medalist Venezuela had the lead frequently changing, with Lithuania depending on Marčiulionis (27 points) and Sabonis (24) to win by 87–79. The third game was easier, with the Lithuanians beating
Puerto Rico 104–91, with 80 points scored by the "golden trio" Sabonis, Marčiulionis, and Kurtinaitis. Then awaited the hardest adversary in the group stage, the former USSR states in an
Unified Team. Lithuania managed to beat the team during the qualifying tournament, and during the Olympics even got a 59–57 lead at the second quarter. Then the Unified Team managed to overcome its defector state and win 92–80, despite the 42-points combined efforts of Sabonis and Marčiulionis. In order to qualify for the quarterfinals, the Lithuania national team had to overcome the
Australian squad. Lithuanians lost the first half 45–46, though later they mightily grabbed the lead till the end of the game, winning it 98–87 and qualifying in second place for the playoffs. Lithuania met the respected and powerful
Brazilian squad at the quarterfinals. The coaching staff decided to use only the most reliable players, with only six Lithuanians scoring. The tense game had the Brazilians leading at half-time, and Lithuania only taking full advantage with five minutes remaining: from 87 to 83, the score built up to a 114–96 Lithuanian wins. Sabonis played all the 40 game minutes and scored 32 points, while Marčiulionis added 29, and Kurtinaitis 20. At the semifinal Lithuanians met the
United States squad nicknamed "Dream Team". It was the first time the Americans brought a team composed of NBA players, including the widely regarded all-time greatest basketballer
Michael Jordan, and the superiority of the "Dream Team" left the Lithuanians absolutely no chances for victory, with the Baltic state taking a lopsided 76–127. It is still the biggest loss ever suffered by the Lithuanian squad, who scored only 34.2% of their shots. The Americans still recognized that they aimed to ramp up their game specially to counter the Lithuanians, with
Larry Bird acknowledging that "we knew the Lithuanians were capable of scoring, (so) we didn't take them lightly", and
Magic Johnson saying that "they're a dangerous team, so we had to pick up our intensity, play better defense". Afterwards, the Lithuanian team coaches decided to start resting the primary players for the bronze medals game. At the bronze medal game, Lithuanians faced the Unified Team for the third time that year, with each team winning once. Captain Valdemaras Chomičius felt that "We lost to them once already, we couldn't let that happen again. The final had to be ours", while Šarūnas Marčiulionis added that "We didn't have any choice, we absolutely had to win at any cost". Head coach Vladas Garastas briefed the team saying "Men, you're playing for the people of Lithuania. Forget about your personal ambitions. People are watching you, losing sleep over you". Šarūnas Marčiulionis: "Some were listening on radios, others were watching on television. All of Lithuania was stopped. Everyone was watching that game". In a close match, the Lithuanians kept the lead all times for an 82–78 victory, that felt inexpressibly remarkable for a tiny country which regained its independence just two years and was playing the remains of its former colonizer. Marčiulionis played 40 minutes during that match and scored 29 points, while Sabonis added 27. Donnie Nelson described the locker room as "like winning the NBA championship times five". After the bronze medal victory,
de jure Head of State
Vytautas Landsbergis visited the team at the locker room, and they all sung the national anthem. During the awarding ceremony, Lithuanians decided to dress up the colorful Skeleton Jerseys in order to show their newly reborn country national colors and to show their gratitude to Greg Speirs and the
Grateful Dead for their financial support. Rimas Kurtinaitis characterized the emotional awarding ceremony by saying: "Well, we cried. It was really from joy. Words cannot even express feelings like that. You need to be there". Valdemaras Chomičius: "It was such an emotion that it's hard to explain. You have to experience it". Arvydas Sabonis by comparing his 1988's Olympic gold medal and the 1992's Olympic bronze medal said: "The medal in Seoul was gold, but this bronze is our soul". In all, Lithuanians averaged 94 points per game in the tournament, being outclassed only by the USA (117 points per game). The team was the subject of a 2012 documentary by Marius Markevičius,
The Other Dream Team.
EuroBasket 1995 . During the qualifiers for
EuroBasket 1993, Lithuanian basketball had its biggest disappointment. Missing Arvydas Sabonis but still with most of the bronze medal squad, Lithuania played in a three team group in
Wrocław, and beat hosts
Poland but lost to
Belarus, being eliminated by the fellow former United Republic. It remains Lithuania's only absence following independence. However, this fiasco encouraged the creation of
the first professional basketball league in Lithuania. To get into
EuroBasket 1995 in Greece, the Lithuanians had to go through a two-stage qualifying tournament in 1993. In 10 games, Lithuania only lost twice, to
Ukraine in
Vienna and
Slovenia in
Ljubljana. With their spot guaranteed, Lithuania started its preparations in 1995 by playing in several international competitions, winning a four-team tournament in
Málaga. The last game was a friendly with the Polish in
Vilnius, winning 105–84. In its return to the European championship following years under Soviet occupation, Lithuania began the tournament powerfully, with five wins in the group stage and a defeat to
Yugoslavia. They overcame the quarterfinals stage successfully as well, defeating
1994 World Championship silver medalists
Russia 82–71, leading the game from start to finish. With a guaranteed spot in the tournament's top four, Lithuania was granted the right to participate in the
1996 Summer Olympics, held in
Atlanta. The semifinal hurdle was overcome as well with a 90–80 defeat of the powerful
Croatia, led by the two mighty
centers:
Stojko Vranković and
Dino Rađa. The Lithuanian national team advanced into its final after 56 years, demonstrating the Lithuanian basketball's vitality and strength, in spite of all the previous difficulties. , where the EuroBasket final took place The final was a rematch with Yugoslavia. The tense finale, where Lithuania had the support of the home crowd as the Serbs had eliminated Greece, had Lithuania winning the close first half, 49–48. With five minutes remaining, Arvydas Sabonis fouled out, as the Lithuanians were behind 76–83, later closing to 83–84. With Yugoslavia leading 87–83,
Saulius Štombergas made a shot that was ruled out as the referee George Toliver called an offensive foul. Lithuanians protested the decision and received three technical fouls (first Sabonis, then Marčiulionis and then the whole team), leading them to leave the court in protest, only returning when persuaded by the Serbs.
Aleksandar Đorđević, the game's overall top scorer with 41 points, scored all three free-throws. Lithuania eventually lost the game 90–96. Marčiulionis, who was named tournament MVP, later stated that "we felt robbed and we still feel that", while acknowledging that despite the questionable refereeing, the silver medal came due to a lack of depth in the Lithuanian bench along with the Yugoslavs knowing "how to provoke other players and initiate psychological battles".
1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics In preparation for another Olympic tournament, Lithuania played five games in Australia against the "Australian Boomers", with a team composed mostly of young players as veterans Sabonis, Marčiulionis, and Karnišovas were unable to participate. Lithuania lost the entire series, but the experience against Australia would be useful in the future. Once they returned to Europe, the Lithuanians played a few games in Spain, losing twice to strong and spirited Croatia and beating twice
Africa champions
Angola. Once Sabonis returned for a friendly with Yugoslavia in Germany, he scored 32 points in Lithuania's win by 86–70. The Lithuanian basketball started well its second Olympiad, beating 1992 Olympic vice-champions Croatia – led by
Toni Kukoč,
Stojko Vranković, and
Dino Rađa – 83–81 in a tough match with two
overtimes. Exhausted and facing an
Argentinian team focused on adversary slowdown, Lithuania lost its second game 61–65. Facing the host
United States supported by 31,000 spectators, Lithuania suffered the absence of an injured Marciulionis and lesser contributions by Sabonis and Kurtinaitis, and lost 82–104. However, wins in the final games against Angola (85–49) and China (116–55) qualified Lithuania at second place. . The Olympic quarterfinal game had Lithuania crushing its third straight adversary against Greece, 99–66. The Olympic semifinal match awaited with powerhouse Yugoslavia, undefeated that far and inspiring the Lithuanians to avenge the 1995 EuroBasket final. They began the game with the lead of 18–9, though Yugoslavians won the quarter 35–31. With the five minutes remaining, Lithuanians had the lead of 54–51, then the game tied (58–58); however, during the last three match minutes Lithuanians scored none, losing the game 58–66. Another chance of an Olympic final was lost. Only the game for the second consecutive bronze remained for the Lithuanian squad, against the Australians who sought their first Olympic medal. Lithuanians were exhausted after the tedious semifinal, and the game remained tight, with the lead never getting over 8 points and the score at 73–72 with one minute remaining. Still, a three-point shot by Arvydas Sabonis with 30 seconds remaining helped Lithuania retain advantage, eventually triumphing 84–74. Sabonis was the driving force of the bronze medal game, neutralizing defender
Mark Bradtke on the way to 30 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 blocks. Another Olympic medal proved Lithuania was among the top basketball countries. and a close defeat of Brazil, 66–62. The second round was tougher for Lithuania, who lost to Australia 61–71, and despite beating Argentina 84–75, wound up losing in overtime to Spain, 80–86. A quarterfinal against Russia ensued, and while the Lithuanians had beaten them two weeks before and lead the game 38–35 at halftime, the Russians beat the inexperienced team by 82–67. Following the consolation tournament with a loss to Italy and a win over Argentina, Lithuania finished in seventh place. The equal games and especially the victory over the United States were promising for the young Lithuanian squad.
EuroBasket 1999 Preparation for the European championship began in a usual way: after intense practicing, the Lithuanians participated in minor competitions, winning two tournaments (in
Helsinki and Kaunas), to go to the European championship with elation. Lithuania
qualified for
EuroBasket 1999 in France losing only two out of ten games, to Croatia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina. The tournament started with a surprise, as an underdog
Czech Republic beat Lithuania 78–62. Afterwards, the team found its stride and won the five following games in the first and second rounds. Reaching the knockout rounds, Lithuanians were favorites against Spain, but lost by a close 74–72 score. Two wins in the consolation tournament gave Lithuania the fifth place and a qualifying spot for the
2000 Summer Olympics. EuroBasket 1999 was the last time the Lithuanian national team counted with Arvydas Sabonis and Artūras Karnišovas. Though, the solid performances by the young Saulius Štombergas and Šarūnas Jasikevičius gave a bright outset for their future.
2000 Sydney Summer Olympics Lithuania started the 2000s by beating Turkey 70–58 in Vilnius. During the preparation period Lithuanians once again visited Spain, defeating the hosts in two preparatory tournaments. The
2000 Olympic tournament marked another time of renovation for Lithuania. The only veterans, Saulius Štombergas and Eurelijus Žukauskas, were reserves in Atlanta, while eight players were debutants:
Ramūnas Šiškauskas,
Darius Songaila, Šarūnas Jasikevičius,
Mindaugas Timinskas,
Andrius Giedraitis,
Kęstutis Marčiulionis,
Darius Maskoliūnas and
Tomas Masiulis. The coaching staff was also inexperienced in the Olympics aside from assistants Valdemaras Chomičius and Donnie Nelson. , one of the Lithuanian national team's leaders, during his debut years in 2000 The first Olympic game against Italy had both teams combined scoring less than 100 points, with Lithuania losing 48–50. The young Lithuanians managed to recover, beating upcoming Olympic vice-champions France 81–63. Journalist Roma Grinbergienė described the triumph symbolically and picturesquely: "Even the
Vytautas the Great would accolade!". The third game, against the
third incarnation of the United States "Dream Team", had the Lithuanians giving the Americans their toughest match since NBA players joined: the final score of 85–76 had Team USA's lowest point total and advantage with professionals, and the Lithuanians even got the lead in the second quarter. Onwards, Lithuania overcame China 82–66 and
New Zealand 85–75, and finished third in their group. . The quarterfinal opponent was one Lithuania could not defeat in previous years,
Yugoslavia. The start was anxious as Lithuanians were trailing 8–2, but not for long. Yugoslavians resisted only until three minutes were left, with Lithuania already leading the game 72–58. Then nobody doubted – the quarterfinal winner is Lithuania, officially winning the game 76–63. Head coach Jonas Kazlauskas: "Winning against the Yugoslavian team and its coach is every team and every coach dream. We are even more happy that we won in the quarterfinal. The gulf is separating the quarterfinal winner teams from the losers. We played very orderly, probably the most disciplined in this tournament. We defended well. Furthermore, Gintaras Einikis and Šarūnas Jasikevičius played amazingly". Lithuania was to compete for another Olympic medal, to the happiness of all their fans. Lithuania lost, but American coach
Rudy Tomjanovich praised the adversary, stating that the Lithuanians "played focused and played the high level basketball. At the end, they were unlucky to make a few free-throws." The United States also widely covered how the small nation nearly upset a team that seemed previously unbeatable in previous tournaments. For the third time, only a bronze medal was possible for Lithuania. Despite the psychological damage of the defeat and having to face hosts Australia in the third place match, the Lithuanians played well enough to win again. Having the experience of playing the Boomers earlier in the year, Lithuania had a strong defensive strategy, and combined with a helped by a shooting percentage of 67%, never gave up the lead on the way to an 89–71 victory, winning their third consecutive Olympic bronze medal. Coach Kazlauskas was happy with the result, given the squad was young and "didn't let down the lath lower than it was raised." was the
MVP of EuroBasket 2003. Semifinals against France were next. Lithuanians won the first three quarters, and then in the last one the French squad came in ahead (60–58), and were leading by 70–65 with three minutes remaining. More struggles later, Lithuania were ahead, 72–70, with 15 seconds remaining. A final attack by the French NBA star
Tony Parker was stopped by Ramūnas Šiškauskas, who added two more free throw points and gave the
Neman river nation their fourth EuroBasket final ever, as well as an automatic spot in the
2004 Summer Olympics. The defeated Spanish of
El Mundo considered that "the good Spanish mood, accuracy and the joy of the game evaporated in front of the Lithuania national team victory desire", and
El Periódico de Catalunya added that "when Lithuania was leading 62–48, what the Spanish players wished the most was to end the game and to head into the locker rooms just to finish this suffering." In Italy,
Tuttosport described the victorious squad as "a true Lithuania national team. Without NBA stars.", while
La Gazzetta dello Sport noted how "there is no other country in the Old Europe which would love the venerable, precious basketball more."
2004 Athens Summer Olympics In preparation for the Olympics, Lithuania lost to Italy twice while defeating France, Greece and Czech Republic along the way. The most impressive victory in the preparation for the games was achieved in the traditional
Acropolis Tournament, where the Lithuanians managed to become champions in their fourth appearance, with wins over Italy and Brazil and a defeat to the host Greece. Lithuania also finished second in the six-team Golden Ball competition held in
Belgrade, losing to the home team of
Serbia. The last preparation games were two matches in Spain, and a win against
Sweden in Vilnius. , where the Lithuanian national team recorded their first Olympic victory against the USA. For the fourth post-independence Olympics, basketball captain Saulius Štombergas was given the honor to
bear the Lithuanian flag during the opening ceremony. While the fifth game, versus Australia, was not significant for the group standings as the Lithuanians had already secured the first spot in the group, the Lithuanians still won 100–85, maintaining their good run. In the quarterfinals Lithuanians easily swept China 95–75, successfully qualifying for the semifinals. The familiar Italian team awaited in the semifinals. Lithuania started well, winning the first quarter 29–17, and leading 34–23 in the second. However, the Italians managed to take the lead before half time and a close game ensued. Lithuanians were able to tie the game in the third quarter (53–53) and even take the lead in the fourth (78–73); however, at the buzzer the Italians celebrated a 91–100 victory, shattering the Lithuanian dream of Olympic gold. Seeking a fourth bronze medal, Lithuania would again face the United States. The game was a close affair, with the lead changing hands nine times and both teams attempting as many three-point shots as possible (Lithuania converted 21 of their 37 shots, and the United States had 8 out of 18). At half time, the United States were ahead 49–44, after the third quarter they maintained their advantage 74–71. In the final quarter, Lithuania closed in to 83–82 in the 34th minute, before the Americans took their stand and kept the lead to the end, winning the match 104–96 and leaving the Lithuanians without Olympic medals for the first time.
EuroBasket 2005 , one of the Lithuanian squad leaders in 2005
EuroBasket 2005 in
Serbia and Montenegro would feature many absences in the Lithuanian squad, such as Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Saulius Štombergas, Arvydas Macijauskas, and
Donatas Slanina. Though, the team had Ramūnas Šiškauskas, one of the biggest European stars of that time. For preparation, the Lithuanian team attended tournaments in Europe, Asia and Australia, being represented in some of them by the reserve roster – such as in the
2005 Stanković Continental Champions' Cup in
Beijing, which the Lithuanians won after defeating 4 of the 5 opponents. On 1 September 2005, a friendly with
Ireland had Lithuania achieve the 600th victory in the team's history, 97–62 in Kaunas. and Lithuania in a post-game press conference in 2005 Starting the tournament as defending champions, Lithuania proved their favoritism by beating Turkey, Croatia and
Bulgaria with solid differences and an average of 88 points. However, the knockout rounds had the team eliminated with an underwhelming performance, scoring only 47 points in a quarterfinal with France. National team coach
Antanas Sireika said: "We played the worst game in the championship and I think that the main reason of this is that the players failed to deal with the psychological tension. This is the main losing reason". The only consolation was the remaining opportunity to qualify into the World Championship, which the Lithuanians achieved by beating Russia and Slovenia for fifth place. Lithuania won 5 of 6 games in the tournament. Consequently, the competition scheme was questioned in its reliability.
FIBA World Championship 2006 game The
2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan had Lithuania matching the seventh place from their 1998 debut, but many saw this performance as an under-achievement. Lithuania started the tournament with a narrow two-point loss to Turkey, followed by an overtime defeat to eventual finalists Greece which had Lithuania suffering 25
turnovers. Confidence was restored with wins over
Qatar, Australia, and Brazil, that qualified Lithuania for the knockout rounds against Italy. They won the match by three points 71–68, although Arvydas Macijauskas fouled
Gianluca Basile during a 3-point attempt in the dying seconds which gave Italy the chance to level the score, but all three
free throws were missed. Lithuania lost the quarterfinal match against eventual champions Spain by 22 points, conceding a total of 28 turnovers during the game. The consolation tournament began with another defeat: Lithuania lost a 12-point lead over Turkey in the last 3minutes of regulation, and the resulting overtime had Turkey achieving a 95–84 victory. Lithuania still won the seventh place match against
Germany, 77–62. Sireika resigned soon after the championship. On 28 December 2006,
Ramūnas Butautas, son of Stepas Butautas, was announced as the new coach of the team.
EuroBasket 2007 EuroBasket 2007 in Spain held big responsibilities for Lithuania, that had to prove the failure in the previous continental tournament passed, while holding higher stakes for Olympic qualifying, restricted to only the medallists. The first international friendly of the year was played in the newly built
Šiauliai Arena, the first time the Lithuanian team played in their "
Sun City". Though, the debut ended up with a big surprise, as the visiting Swedish won 69–62. Further preparation games were variable for Lithuania as well, losing to Latvia and Spain as visitors while defeating Russia in Vilnius. A fifth Acropolis Tournament had Lithuania again getting second place after losing to the Greek hosts. Lithuania started EuroBasket well, crushing both Turkey (86–69), and the Czech Republic (95–75) before a harder group closer with Germany.
Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 28 points, helped the Germans cut a 17-point Lithuanian advantage at halftime to just four by the game's end (84–80). Lithuanians successfully qualified into the second stage. along with the crowd, during the team's meeting ceremony in
Vilnius Round 2 had Lithuania winning much disputed games against Italy (79–74), and France (88–73), before a sweeping of Slovenia 80–61. The quarterfinals had Lithuania against the traditional Croatia national team, which did not yield to the Lithuanians' superiority and even lead after the first and third quarters. An imposing fourth quarter had Lithuania achieving 74–72, completing seven straight victories en route to the semifinal. Russia was awaiting at the semifinals. The Lithuanians, who had yet to defeat the Russians, failed to accomplish this again. After the first six minutes, the Russians had an 18–3 lead, which escalated to 33–14. However, the Lithuanians' resilience made them erase the deficit by the third quarter, 52–52. Eventually, fatigue that remained from the tough quarterfinal caught up with Lithuania, especially playing against such a powerful adversary. The Russian won 86–74, despite the efforts of Lithuanian captain Ramūnas Šiškauskas, who scored 30 points. Following the game, Šarūnas Jasikevičius declared that: "We have to forget everything and endeavor to win the medals. [...>] The situation of the Greeks is the same as ours. They also painfully lost, they will wish to achieve the medals as well. We will give everything we got and we will try to win". The upcoming game had two prizes at stake, the European bronze – which Lithuania had never won, only three golds and two silvers – and the last direct spot for the
2008 Summer Olympics, held in
Beijing. Lithuania managed to beat the Greeks 78–69. On 17 September, the players had a meeting ceremony in Vilnius to get
state awards.
2008 Beijing Summer Olympics With the fifth straight Olympic tournament following independence ahead, the Lithuania national team started 2008 with a frustration. The
Cleveland Cavaliers refused to release
Žydrūnas Ilgauskas for the Games, even as the LKF managed to find financing for the NBA franchise's US$22 million insurance tax. During a press conference to announce his absence from the Games, Ilgauskas added that he was in pain from injuries he suffered during the
2007-08 NBA season, making the Cavaliers' medical staff recommend him go through immediate surgery. was denied a participation in the Olympics by the
Cleveland Cavaliers. , one of the Lithuanian team leaders at the
2008 Olympics Preparation for the tournament was slightly different this time: Lithuania did not compete in any tournaments, only playing friendlies. The only two defeats in nine games were against Spain and the
United States. Again the Olympics opening ceremony had Lithuania's flagbearer being a basketball player, this time Šarūnas Jasikevičius. The 2008 Olympic tournament started with a tough opponent, defending gold medalists Argentina. Lithuania lead for most of the game, only for the Argentinians to tie with 18 seconds remaining. A decisive play by
Linas Kleiza gave the lead and the victory for Lithuanians 79–75. The second game against
Asia representatives
Iran had Lithuania surprisingly losing the first quarter 15–20, only to dominate afterwards for a handful 99–67. Though, then Lithuanians obviously shown their advantage, crushing them 99–67. Difficult victories over Russia (86–79, Lithuania's first FIBA victory over them) and Croatia (86–73) gave Lithuania a guaranteed first place spot in the group. Thus the team barely cared in the round 1 closer with Australia, suffering 25 turnovers and being smashed 75–106. , coach of the 2008 Olympic Team Though, again a tough semifinal awaited against defending world champions Spain. The victory value was huge: the dreamed Olympic final, guaranteed silver and a chance at gold, while also providing the opportunity to take back on the 66–91 shellacking during preparations. Both teams played at their best, with Spain compensating the absence of
José Calderón to lead by the first quarter, only for Lithuania to dominate for the following two and having a minimal 74–73 advantage by the fourth. Then rising performances by
Rudy Fernandez and
Pau Gasol (9 and 7 points respectively) during the concluding quarter along with the Lithuanians' exhaustion and lack of big men input lead the Spanish to barely edge and win the semifinal 91–86. Head coach Ramūnas Butautas said that the team played well and there was no need to be disappointed. Lithuania was for the fifth consecutive time at the Olympic bronze match, hoping to get their fourth medals against former Olympic champions Argentina. Though, the tough semifinal had the Lithuanians tired and emotionally distraught, which the experienced adversary took advantage despite not counting with injured star
Manu Ginóbili. By the third quarter, the game seemed already lost as Lithuanians trailed 67–49. The reduction of the deficit in the fourth was not enough to prevent Lithuania from losing another third place game, 75–87. Still, five Olympic semifinals proved the Lithuanians were still one of the strongest basketball teams worldwide despite hailing from a small country.
EuroBasket 2009 Before
EuroBasket 2009 in Poland, Lithuanian stars like Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Darius Songaila, Arvydas Macijauskas, Rimantas Kaukėnas and Žydrūnas Ilgauskas decided not to join the national team. In preparation, the national team took part in another Acropolis Tournament, finishing third by beating Russia and losing to Greece and Turkey. After huge losses in the team roster and
point guard shortage, Lithuania started the tournament with a loss to Turkey (76–84). This was the first time in the 21st century that the Lithuanians began a championship with a defeat. Later Lithuanians disappointingly lost to
Poland, and depended on a strong fourth quarter to beat Bulgaria. Finishing third in its group, Lithuania qualified for the second round. However, it already begun badly with a 23-point loss to Slovenia. Following this shocking loss, team's captain Robertas Javtokas, when asked about the team's future, said: "I don't know what else we could promise. We must get straight or it is enough of promises. We must come as men with balls and not like kids. Otherwise, other teams will humiliate us again". The team's game still not improved, with a defeat to Spain (70–84) diminishing the Lithuanians' chances to qualify for the quarterfinals, and a loss to Serbia eliminating the team outright, with the final standing being a measly 12th place. Coach Ramūnas Butautas took all responsibility for the fiasco and resigned. It is regarded as the worst Lithuania national team performance ever.
FIBA World Championship 2010 On 12 December 2009, Lithuania was granted a wild card to participate in the World Championship in Turkey the following year. Lithuania started the tournament against New Zealand. After a tough first quarter, Lithuanians took control of the game and kept ahead by a comfortable lead, finishing 92–79. The second game was against
Canada. After reducing a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter, Lithuanians finally gained a small lead towards the end of the game. Canada had a chance to win the game, but
Jermaine Anderson's game winning three rimmed out at the last second and Lithuania celebrated their second victory 70–68. The next match was against the defending champion Spain, and after another comeback from an 18-point deficit, the Lithuanians won the upsetting game 76–73, Linas Kleiza's free-throws sealing the victory. Already guaranteed in the knockout rounds, Lithuania faced the group's other undefeated team, France. The French quickly gained momentum in the first half and forced Lithuania to a double-digit deficit. However, in the second half, Lithuania deftly reduced the deficit and cruised past the French defense, outscoring them 45–25 to win the game 69–55 and take the group's leadership. The preliminary round ended with a perfect record as
Lebanon was handily defeated 84–66. After sweeping China (78–67) in the eighth finals and crushing Argentina (104–85) in the quarterfinals, Lithuania lost to Team USA by 15 points. They captured the bronze medal after winning against Eurobasket's silver medalist Serbia 99–88. This was Lithuania's best World Championship result.
EuroBasket 2011 After 72 years, Lithuania was again hosting the EuroBasket in
2011. The national team was under much pressure given both the expectations as hosts and the outstanding performance at the World Championship the year before. The team tried to combine future prospects and the past stars, but during the leading months, lost two of its starting players, Linas Kleiza and
Jonas Mačiulis, due to knee injuries. During EuroBasket,
Marijonas Petravičius was diagnosed with
pulmonary embolism after three games played. Not only Petravičius had to miss the rest of the tournament, but the disease marked the end of his professional career. Numerous officials and other European basketball specialists and pundits found EuroBasket 2011 the best European tournament ever, particularly due to the Lithuanian enthusiasm for the sport. The consolation playoffs led to a final standing of fifth place, giving Lithuania a spot at the
2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men.
2012 FIBA World Olympic qualifying tournament Twenty years later, Lithuania had to go through a dedicated Olympic qualifier, held in July 2012 in
Caracas,
Venezuela. The top three teams would get spots at the
2012 Olympics basketball tournament. The team started off the tournament with a convincing victory against Venezuela, followed by an upset to Nigeria the following day. With all three teams tied with one win and one loss, Venezuela wound up disqualified due to a lesser point difference. Afterwards, many incidents regarding the Lithuanian squad were rumored to be caused by disgruntled Venezuelans. These included a tank column near the training hall polluting the air during the Lithuanian team workout, a broken bus during the trip to the arena before the quarterfinal game against Puerto Rico, and vanished jerseys and water during said match. Despite all that, Lithuania managed to defeat Puerto Rico in a dramatic game. In the semifinals, Lithuania crushed
the Dominican Republic and thus qualified for the 2012 London Olympics.
2012 London Summer Olympics After dominating in the Qualifying Tournament, Lithuania had a tough time at the Olympics. The first game against Argentina turned into a fiasco, as the South Americans forced Lithuania into a double-digit deficit in the first half, and kept a comfortable lead in the second half to finish the game strong, 102–79.
Luis Scola, who was held down to 13 points in the quarterfinal match against Lithuania two years ago at the World Championship, led Argentina with 32 points. Lithuania rebounded from the loss playing with Nigeria, which also served to avenge the only defeat in the Qualifying Tournament. Playing exemplary defense against the Nigerian bigs
Al-Farouq Aminu and
Ike Diogu, Lithuania handily won 72–53. Next was another defeat, as France rode Tony Parker and
Boris Diaw to win the game 74–82. The following game was against
USA, which had just broke recordswith their 156–73 win over Nigeria. Right from the beginning, Lithuania proved to be a tough opponent for Team USA, with Linas Kleiza scoring 25 points, and former Duke player
Martynas Pocius having 7 rebounds and 6 assists. The Lithuania were down by only 4 points at the half and 6 at the end of the third quarter. In the final quarter, Lithuania momentarily took the lead 84–82, but lost it again as
LeBron James scored 9 points in 4 minutes to achieve a 94–99 win.
ESPN's Marc Stein reacted to the near-defeat remembering the other struggle the "Dream Team" had with Lithuania in 2000, and adding that even if it was "the weakest Lithuanian team they've ever faced in Olympic basketball competition, a limited Lithuania is still Lithuania. Still stubborn. Still dangerous. Still causing a variety of problems for USA Basketball." Despite its third loss in the tournament, Lithuania still had a chance to qualify to the knockout rounds by defeating
Tunisia, which they did 63–76. Thus, Lithuania had the final spot in the quarterfinals, facing the other group's leader, Russia. While the Russians never left the lead, Lithuania always kept it close, and by the fourth quarter was just one point behind. Still their attempts for an upset fell short, and ended up losing 74–83, making it the first time Lithuania missed the Olympic semifinal. Veterans Rimantas Kaukėnas, Darius Songaila and Šarūnas Jasikevičius scored half of the team's points in that game. Later in an interview, Jasikevičius said that he expected the younger players from the World Championship to carry the team, but the opposite happened. Songaila and Kaukėnas agreed, and all three retired from the national team after the tournament. On 1 October, the Lithuanian Basketball Federation brought Jonas Kazlauskas back after 12 years to replace Kęstutis Kemzūra.
EuroBasket 2013 Even before
EuroBasket 2013 in
Slovenia started, the Lithuanian team had problems: their flight on 2 September 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. led the Lithuania squad to a silver medal. 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.
2014 FIBA World Cup After becoming European vice-champions in 2013, Lithuanians automatically qualified into the
2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain. On 13 May, head coach Jonas Kazlauskas announced both the extended main roster for the national team and the reserve roster. On 1 July, he announced the condensed candidate roster. Captain Robertas Javtokas and team leader Linas Kleiza decided not to participate in the 2014 World Cup due to injuries. On 7 July, first Lithuania national team training camp was organized in
Palanga. On 18 August, Lithuania won a preparation game against Slovenia with result 80–76, achieving the national team's 500th victory and the 100th under coach Jonas Kazlauskas. The next nine preparation games were all wins, raising expectations for the Lithuanian performance. On 26 August, just a few hours before the last preparation game against Croatia, a final team roster was announced without
Artūras Gudaitis and
Adas Juškevičius. However, everything turned upside down rapidly in the game itself, when in only three minutes captain and Mantas Kalnietis dislocated his
clavicle, forcing him to miss the World Cup. Juškevičius was chosen as his replacement, and
Šarūnas Vasiliauskas also won a roster spot.
Paulius Jankūnas became the new team captain. was a last minute addition to the World Cup roster. The tournament begun with a tough victory over
FIBA Americas champions
Mexico, 87–74. While the Mexicans won the first quarter 27–22, the Lithuanians then achieved their domination, marked by scoring 20 points against only 2 in the third quarter. One day later, another difficult match was held against African champions Angola, that the Lithuanians won 75–62, led by the young
Donatas Motiejūnas and
Jonas Valančiūnas, who scored a combined 23 points and defended the team with 18 rebounds. Tough games continued for Lithuania. The third game against Australia had the Lithuanians 19 points behind at halftime, winning the third quarter 28–15, and leading at some points of the concluding period, but still lost 75–82. Head coach Jonas Kazlauskas described the game as having the team's worst first half that season. The team recovered by sweeping South Korea 79–49, guaranteeing a spot at the knockout rounds and managing to become the first team in FIBA World Cup history to not have any free throw attempts. Lithuania took first spot in the group by closing with a tremendous victory against Slovenia, 67–64, with the Slovenians only scoring two points in the fourth quarter. often played as point guard during the crucial game moments. During the eighthfinals, Jonas Valančiūnas led Lithuania to a difficult victory against New Zealand, 76–71. In the quarterfinals,
Renaldas Seibutis helped Lithuania beat Turkey 73–61 and advanced into the semifinals, once again meeting the United States. Before the game, USA national team head coach
Mike Krzyzewski noted that the Lithuanians "love the game, they play with the passion, they play together, always as a team. They play with the great heart and it will be a tough game for us." Lithuania fought point-for-point through two quarters; however, after half-time Team USA scored 10–0 and after winning the third quarter 33–14, leaving no chances for the Lithuanian team to come back. They ultimately lost the game 68–96. It was one of the worst performances for Lithuania against Team USA, following the 51-point defeat in the 1992 Olympics versus the "Dream Team". After the match, coach Jonas Kazlauskas criticized the refereeing: "It just shows what respect every team has. When I asked the referee about the (technical) foul call, he said that he warned the bench not to jump, when Team USA bench was jumping and discussing with the referees just in the same way. Overall, the judging was hardly understandable until Team USA had 20 points lead. Later there was no point in discussing with the referees anymore". Longtime Lithuanian national team games broadcast commentator Robertas Petrauskas ironically described the judging live by saying: "When we discuss the judging against Team USA with the journalists from other countries, we all agree that if the referees would call the turnover every time USA player steps before bumping the ball, Team USA would be the most frequent fallible team in the tournament". During the bronze medal game Lithuania faced France, just 2 years removed from the EuroBasket defeat. A terrific battle where youngsters Jonas Valančiūnas and Adas Juškevičius tried to give a win with 39 points combined ensued, but the French still beat them 95–93. Despite not winning any medals, the team was received by thousands of Lithuanians at Rotušės square who wanted to thank the national team for their efforts. According to research, over 2,223 million people observed the national team games live in Lithuania, which is over 76% of the country's population.
EuroBasket 2015 Following the World Cup's fourth place, Lithuania automatically qualified into the
EuroBasket 2015. On 5 May, head coach Jonas Kazlauskas published an extended 25–player main roster, that did not include two long-time players,
Simas Jasaitis and
Kšyštof Lavrinovič. On 9 July, the shortened roster was announced, with the 12 players enrolled into training camp in
Palanga beginning 11 days later. Four mainstays of the team were unable to make the list:
power forward Donatas Motiejūnas and centers
Darjuš Lavrinovič and Martynas Pocius due to injuries, and Linas Kleiza for exhaustion, expressing a need to rest. Lithuania began the preparation games phase by defeating Australia twice, as well as Finland and
Austria once. Later the team hosted the Huawei Cup at Žalgiris Arena, being champions despite a defeat to Croatia due to wins over Turkey and Macedonia. Lithuanians also appeared again at the Acropolis Tournament, finishing third after crushing the
Netherlands, while losing to host Greece and the previously defeated Turkish squad. In total, the national team achieved 7 victories of 10 during the friendly preparation matches. On 1 September, the national team's final EuroBasket 2015 roster was announced. Lithuania began the European championship in Riga, on 5 September, versus Ukraine. In an
Arena Riga almost completely filled with their yellow-green-red decorated fans, the Lithuanians began the match easily and after the first quarter already had a solid lead (19–12), though then began a decay once
Jerome Randle and
Kyrylo Fesenko led to a Ukrainian resurgence. Ukraine tied the second quarter (14–14) and won the third (19–17), and almost upset the Lithuanians in the final shot if not for a Robertas Javtokas block that ensured a close Lithuanian win, 69–68. Afterwards, the match against the host Latvians had Lithuania losing the first quarter and leading by just one point by halftime. However, then Jonas Mačiulis led a shutdown of the Latvian three-pointers (only 20% during the whole game), and after two solid remaining quarters (11–20, 10–19) the Lithuanians achieved a 68–49 win. The next day, Lithuania surprisingly lost to the
Belgium national team 74–76, despite Mantas Kalnietis achieving a EuroBasket record of assists with 13, and Jonas Valančiūnas also delivering a solid performance (25 points, 12 rebounds). The game was closed on a controversial play, as Belgian
Matt Lojeski tipped the ball in with just bits of a second remaining and the referees had to analyze if the scoring was still made on time. After the game, many Lithuanian players argued that time was already expired, even if they were unable to make an appeal because, according to the FIBA rules, it should be made 15 minutes after the game. LKF still wrote a letter to FIBA questioning how they should act in such situations. An illness sidelined Valančiūnas from the fourth game versus
Estonia, who were returning to EuroBasket for the first time since 2001. Another close match ensued, with the score tied during the final seconds (62–62) before an accurate shot by Jonas Mačiulis saved the Lithuanians (64–62). Tensions reached new heights in the first round closer against the Czech Republic. The game finished tied in 69–69, forcing an overtime which the Lithuanians won (16–12), guaranteeing first place in the group, in spite of all the previous struggles. Kazlauskas wanted to spare the returning Valančiūnas from much playtime given the recent illness, but the player insisted in playing as much as he could, finishing with a
double-double. hosted the
EuroBasket 2015 Final, where Lithuanians won their second consecutive silver medals in front of a European basketball record 27,372 spectators. At the eightfinal Jonas Mačiulis continued to carry the stagnating Lithuania national team over his shoulders past
Georgia, 85–81. The game again was a true thriller, with the Lithuanian squad leading just 80–79 during the final 15 seconds before Mačiulis secured victory by hammering an important three-pointer with just a few seconds remaining on the shot clock. Mačiulis had the greatest number of
EFF Points in EuroBasket history with 50 points in that game (34 points with 85% accuracy, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks), being the first player to hit the 50 point mark since
Dirk Nowitzki's 52 in the 2001 bronze medal game. At the quarterfinal Lithuania, just like two years ago, faced Italy, led by such prominent NBA players like
Danilo Gallinari,
Marco Belinelli and
Andrea Bargnani. The game was so intense that it required an overtime, in which the Lithuania national team turned a higher gear, with three players scoring double-doubles (Jonas Valančiūnas, Jonas Mačiulis and Mantas Kalnietis) en route to a 95–85 that gave Lithuania their third straight semifinal. Following the game, Mačiulis said: "We won, but there are only three medals sets. We have to win one of these". The semifinal was a true European basketball classic: Lithuania versus Serbia, coached by
Aleksandar Đorđević, who led the then-Yugoslavia to beat Lithuania in the 1995 EuroBasket final. The Lithuanians were considered underdogs of the match due to the Serbians being undefeated that far while the Balts struggled in all games. Still, Lithuania led for most of the time, at times with advantages of 11 points, and while the Serbians scored 21 points in the final quarter, clinched the semifinal with a 67–64 score, advancing into their second straight EuroBasket final. Furthermore, the victory also automatically put the Lithuania men's national team to the
2016 Summer Olympics, their seventh consecutive Olympics, and making Lithuania the only European squad in all Olympics since 1992. Coach Jonas Kazlauskas described the victory as "unbelievable", given Lithuania only scored 2 three-pointers while making 20 turnovers. Wild celebrations ensued in the streets of Lithuania after the conclusion of the game. While none of the Lithuanians playing in the
EuroBasket 2015 Final were part of the team who won the 2003 tournament, the adversary was the same, a Spanish team led by Pau Gasol and featuring
Felipe Reyes, as well as two of the referees, Luigi Lamonica and Ilija Belošević. And this time, the final went absolutely different, with Spain hitting with stunning accuracy right from the 19–8 first quarter. The Lithuanian squad tried to reduce the deficit multiple times, but the Spanish kept the lead at all times for an 80–63 win. Jonas Valančiūnas and Jonas Mačiulis were selected to the All-Tournament Team, but were visibly unhappy at losing the second straight European championship final. Yet on the next day, the national team members, as in the previous years, were warmly greeted at the Town Hall in Vilnius by a smiling crowd. On 22 September, the team was invited to the Presidential Palace, where they were awarded with more state awards.
2016 Rio Summer Olympics The Lithuanian men's national team automatically qualified into the
2016 Summer Olympics without the need to compete in the
qualifying tournament after being finalists of EuroBasket 2015. Lithuania, China, Australia and the United States are the only countries to compete in consecutive Olympiad since 1992. On 8 June, the twenty candidates list was published, who were invited to the training camp. On 20 June, first training camp was held. During the first preparation phase in Lithuania, the national team reached 5 of 5 victories, including victory versus the European champions
Spain national team in a farewell game 87–83 in
Kaunas. Just three days later, Lithuanians reached another victory over Spain 76–78 in
Málaga. The preparation stage in South America was less fortunate with the first game being cancelled due to unsuitable conditions, then the first loss occurred to Argentina after controversial refereeing. The only victory there was achieved versus Australia 68–81. The friendly games were finished with another loss, this time to Brazil 64–62. retired from the team in 2016. On 7 August, the opening game versus the host team
Brazil national team was played. After demonstrating powerful game-play in the beginning, Lithuanians won the first half by 29 points (58–29), though the second half was completely different, which was surprisingly lost by 23 points. Lithuania won the game just 76–82. After the game, one of the team leaders
Jonas Mačiulis said that "this can't happen again". Following it, Lithuania faced
Nigeria national team. After playing two quarters point-to-point, Lithuanians spurt in the third (29–13), led by Mačiulis who scored 14 points during it, and won the match 89–80. Afterwards, Lithuanians overcome
Argentina national team, who was yet undefeated in a close game 81–73 and qualified for the quarterfinal. The successful start was slowed down by
Spain national team, which crushed Lithuania 59–109. It was second highest loss in the history of the Lithuanian national team history. The group phase was ended with another loss to
Croatia national team 81–90 and Lithuania finished third in the group. The quarterfinals adversary were
Australia, who Lithuania beat to win the last two bronze medals. This time the "Boomers" did not give a chance to Lithuania, leading all the way to a 90–64 rout with strong performances by
Patty Mills and
Matthew Dellavedova. Lithuania finished seventh in the final standings. Following the Olympics, long-time captain
Robertas Javtokas retired from the national team. After a successful 4-year lap, head coach
Jonas Kazlauskas refused to return to the national team for more summers and left it for a second time. On 25 October 2016, he was replaced by
Dainius Adomaitis. On 20 January 2017,
EuroLeague legend and former Lithuanian star
Ramūnas Šiškauskas was named one of Adomaitis's assistants.
EuroBasket 2017 became the vital piece of the team. On 11 May 2017,
Dainius Adomaitis announced the extended candidates list. On 16 June, the shortened candidates list version was published, which most notably excluded
Antanas Kavaliauskas,
Paulius Jankūnas and
Renaldas Seibutis. On 20 June, one of four Lithuanian
NBA players
Domantas Sabonis, son of all-time great Arvydas Sabonis, announced that he would not represent the national team this year. On 21 June, the national team members gathered for their first training camp in
Palanga. On 1 August,
Mantas Kalnietis was chosen captain of the team. . The preparation games were started by barely defeating the
Poland national team 59–58 on 4 August, and with a loss to the
Georgia national team 81–70 on 5 August. Following it, the team traveled to
Orléans, France, to participate in a not more fortunate international tournament, losing both games to the
Croatia national team 80–82 and to the
France national team 77–98. On 18 August, Lithuanians reached their second victory by crushing
Romania national team 97–64 in
Riga, but were convincingly defeated by the
Latvia national team 77–87 on the next day, mostly due to the youngsters
Dāvis Bertāns and
Kristaps Porziņģis. After returning to Lithuania, the team's final roster was announced on 23 August; however, during the team's next-to-last warmup game before EuroBasket, against
Iceland national team,
Lukas Lekavičius suffered a broken foot that kept him out of the tournament and diminished the 84–62 victory. He was replaced on the roster by
Adas Juškevičius. The farewell game was played on 25 August in
Vilnius, and was lost during the final seconds 78–79. On 29 August, Lithuania national team traveled to
Tel Aviv, Israel for the
group-phase games of the
EuroBasket 2017. The group-phase was started with a shocking 77–79 loss to the Georgia national team, with
Tornike Shengelia scoring 29 points and dominating the game. Although, Lithuanians rehabilitated later by defeating the hosts
Israel national team 73–88,
Italy national team 78–73 after Juškevičius career-best performance,
Ukraine national team 62–94, and
Germany national team 72–89 with Valančiūnas powerfully dominating during both games. The successful finish resulted in Lithuania clinching the first place in the group with a 4–1 result. On 7 September, Lithuanians departed to
Istanbul for the
knockout stage. The intention to win third straight EuroBasket medals was quickly smashed by the
Greece national team 64–77 in the first round, with Lithuanians trailing most of the game and failing to defend
Kostas Sloukas. Consequently, this time Lithuanians finished ninth. On 10 September, part of the national team returned to Vilnius.
2019 FIBA World Cup qualification Contrary to previous years, no teams were automatically placed into the
FIBA World Cup, so all
FIBA Europe nations had to participate in
qualifications. On 3 November 2017, the national team candidates list was published that did not included any
NBA or
EuroLeague players. On 20 November 2017, the national team members arrived to
Palanga, and on 23 November the team has traveled to
Pristina,
Kosovo from the
Palanga International Airport for their first qualification game versus the
Kosovo national team in the
Palace of Youth and Sports. Lithuania won the game 61–99 by starting to crush the Kosovans in the third quarter. On 26 November 2017, Lithuanians also crushed their second opponent
Poland national team 75–55 in
Klaipėda to perfectly finish the first phase of the group stage. On 2 February 2018, list of the roster for the second qualification window was published. On 19 February 2018, the team gathered in Palanga. On 23 February 2018, Lithuanians narrowly defeated
Hungary 80–75 in Klaipėda. On 26 February 2018, they crushed Kosovo yet again. On 31 May 2018, list of the roster for the third qualification window was published, which included Lithuanian
NBA and
EuroLeague players. On 25 June 2018, the strengthened team gathered in
Kaunas. It crushed Poland in
Gdańsk 79–61 and Hungary in
Budapest 73–50. On 3 September 2018, team roster for the fourth qualification window was announced. Prior to the qualification games, Lithuania national team lost a friendly game to the
Latvia national team 80–97, but later after defeating the
Croatia national team 84–83 in
Osijek and
Netherlands national team 95–93 in
Vilnius it qualified to the
2019 FIBA World Cup in China.
2019 Military World Games The Lithuanian men's national basketball team participated in the
2019 Military World Games where they
won the Gold medal match against Team USA, with Team China finishing-off in the Bronze medal position. ==Competitive record==