By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The absolute game! Jonas Maciulis was more than perfect and led Lithuania to the quarterfinals against Georgia (85-81) that was… too hard to die.
Maciulis was outstanding in the knock out game in the “Round of 16” with 34 points (9/9 free throws, 8/9 2ps, 3/4 3ps), 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists! A night to remember for Jonas in a career night!
Georgia advanced to the knock out games thanks to its victory over Croatia that didn’t have any motivation and thanks to Netherlands’ loss by Greece. However, Kokoskov’s players were amazing against Lithuania in their first knock out game in a Eurobasket.
Lithuania didn’t improve at all its performance since the Group phase and was trailing until the start of the fourth quarter. Jonas Valanciunas, the leading scorer of Lithuania so far, was not only too bad in the offense (5 points, 0 rebounds) but also allowed Zaza Pachulia (23p, 7 rebs) to lead his team and raise Georgia’s confidence.
Next to Pachulia, Sanikidze (14p., 7 rebs) and Shengelia (10p) were also brilliant and were conquering in the paint and with Tsintsaze (10p) and Markoishvili (6 p., 4 as.) doing also very good job, Georgia was totally controlling the game (33-24, 15′).
Against them there was only one player: Jonas Maciulis! Real Madrid‘s forward was doing everything in the court in one of the best individual performances in this Eurobasket. He was great in the offense and defense (27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals) and was fighting almost alone to keep Lithuania close to Georgia.
The image of the game started to change when Jankunas stepped up and Shengelia was fouled out seven minutes before the end. Since then Lithuania was leading the score, but Georgia was always close. Again Maciulis was the one who decided the game with a big three (11’ before the end with the score 80-79 in favor of Lithuania), 2/2 free throws (4” before the end) and two steals!