Australia defeats Lithuania, jumps in front seat for World Championship(35149)It was certainly a final quarter to remember after a slow first half, putting just 25 points up in the fist 24 minutes. Snyders first rebound came in the 3rd quarter, a sign we were in big danger of losing from second looks, indicative of the 12 offensive rebounds we gave up on route to a 45-36 rebounding liability count. We also failed to score consistent at the charity stripe, only going 50% shooting there. Assists went our way, indicative of the passing lineup selected to find the scorers in good positions, causing the mismatches we required. As identified by the coach pregame ( in the locker room/NT thread), the keys to the game were executed.
Lithuania's last score came at the 4:20 min of the final quarter. What a shutdown effort! The bench provided 2 minutes of relief for the starters, keeping the opposition scoreless while putting on 6 points of their own before handing the court back over to the (majority of) starters to finish the show.
Controversy surrounds the refereeing as Viggiano was able to sub at the 3:40 mark, sit down, and then take his second free throw attempt from the bench seat. The party trick went in and the score was allowed.
The foul count going in to the last minute was 9-1 in favour of Australia before they strategically bumped the count up in preparation for "hack-a-Kristapus". The strategy was not required as Lithuania failed to score and put a point winning margin up. The final score came inside 30 seconds with a feed from 20 year old "all time great" Valery Kaspervich" found the big guy Snyder who had rested just enough to throw down a monster jam on the opposition defense. The final play saw Lithuania get 2 good looks inside the keyway in 2 seconds, both rimming out.
MVPs3 votes- Snyder (14pts on 7-14FG, 4 rebs)
2 votes- Azzi (11pts on 5-9 shooting, 11 rebs, 3 offensive gestures)
1 vote- Baynham (11pts, 4 rebs, 1 stl, and shutting out his man, keeping him 2-11FG)
Next up is our final match against Tounes, we need to win this to secure the World Championship qualification.
Game shapes were a big issue this week, i encourage all managers to be in contact with me over training plans and minute management of your player/s
Congratulations again to the 3 additions to the side, and to Leeroy with his 2nd u21 player in the side. "AA" and "Tiet" are both dynamic players that could play 3-4 positions for us and provide depth in our offensive strategy options.