Lithuania, Argentina enter quarters
LITHUANIA beat China and Argentina edged past Brazil to grab the final two quarterfinal spots at the Basketball World Championship on Tuesday.
| China’s Yi Jianlian (C) tries to shoot as he is double-teamed by Lithuania’s Robertas Javtokas and Linas Kleiza (R) during their FIBA Basketball World Championship in Istanbul on Tuesday.SD-Agencies |
Lithuania got up over China 78-67, while in a game too close to call Argentina was pushed hard for its 93-89 victory over Brazil.
Lithuanian players had to overcome another slow start, finding themselves 11 points in arrears with the first quarter barely halfway through.
But as they did against Spain and France, the Lithuanians powered their way back into the game, mainly through the work of Linas Kleiza who led his team at both ends of the court, pulling down 11 defensive rebounds to go with his game-high 30 points.
Within the opening minutes of the second quarter the Lithuanians took the lead, which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the evening.
Source： Shenzhen Daily Editor： 洪志科