LTU v. USA Sydney Olympics

"A shocking turn of events here in the semi-finals" . . . and the long, strange trip of Lithuanian basketball glory rolls on . . .

[@kenari5763]

I wanted Lithuania to win this game so badly. What a performance! BTW, Mike Breen is such a fair and good commentator.

[@azelah]

you just got want you want, check out the latest game of fiba.

[@9ragis]

What a classic of Olympic basketball! Amazing game and incredibly entertaining commentary by the NBC guys . Šaunuoliai, Lietuva 🇱🇹💪. Writing this comment in Sept 2023: Lithuania 🇱🇹 and Germany 🇩🇪 has beaten the USA (coached by Steve Kerr) at the World Cup in Manila . 🇺🇸🇩🇪🇱🇹

[@Angelo-ix9to]

Back in 2000 the Lithunia population is just the size of chicago with 3 million compared to USA with 300 million. Unless you are from the United States you have to cheer for Lithuania. This small country just gave everything

[@krillin876]

In American and was rooting for Lithuania.

[@vecislt]

Fun fact Chicago has really big Lithuanians community. After WW1 I think a lot of Lithuanians migrated to US and most of them to Chicago :)

[@SchmerzUndFeuer]

Nobody has to cheer for anyone, clown.

[@Oberschutzee]

​@@vecislt Major wave was before ww1

[@vladvandal2624]

You say that like basketball is only sport on planet but is not. USA is great in other sports to, Lithuania is good only in throwing disciplins.

[@danijelhorvat5586]

Respekt to lituvania your country and my yugoslavia allways good games to watch

[@drexlerb6031]

Unless the clock on the screen is wrong, it looks like time had expired before he got off that three anyways. You can pause it with the clock on zero and the ball still in his hands.

[@ji3535]

one of the best games ever.

[@johnnyesteban89]

instablaster

[@areyashore]

Agreed... 💃

[@aleksc5253]

Was at the game in Sydney was, went to watch the USA team but was cheering the other way the atmosphere was awesome at times for Lithuanian. The women’s usa team where next to us we didnt get on let me put it that way.

[@lavryq]

And today we beat them again 😊😊😊

[@MCEdziits]

Similar to Latvia - they missed a shot in the quarter finals 2023 world cup against Germany

[@patricksobb5762]

I was lucky enough to be at this game, really just to see Vince Carter. You could see a few cracks appearing in USA basketball and the world was catching up

[@eyalganz9783]

Thing that stands out the most to me is the disadvantage usa display over the lithuanians athletically ..they defended so well .. and were talkin hall o famers us players - kidd, carter , tim hardaway and more ..

[@Jose-sy1je]

Three free throws at the end of the game and he only made one? Talk about throwing the game away. Lithuania was by far the best country in basketball per capita. If you think about their small population and little resources, then it's absolutely incredible how good they were. The Soviet team already depended on their players bc ice hockey was far bigger in the Soviet Union.

[@ayidonno]

Basketball is the national sport in Lithuania I expect them to at least be decent at it

[@harderway8568]

Serbia Montenegro and Croatia of that time have entered the chat.

[@elgrandecaudillo]

Vince Carter was clutch in that game

[@divo253644]

Essa foi a primeira vez que os EUA perceberam que se não levassem o melhor time possível de jogadores da NBA, não ganhariam mais Olimpíadas e Mundiais.

[@waratahfilm2350]

When you can see the real level of fake superstars of NBA in real competitive games you realize that (with the exceptions of MJ, DrJ, KD, Magic, Bird and some few others) the power of Marketing is everything to create an illusion...

[@bakuvian]

And Kobe

[@user-gs1lw1tt6n]

Это вообще не игра, это шоу , одни изображают лучших, другие средних, третии худших. Литве дали уровень средний вот и будет типо сильно играть, а США специально отрыв сливать изображая интриги

[@terrorsquadlith]

yep.. USA is a huge country, it's like Europe would gather their best players

[@sporttv8506]

Šiškauskas kaip visad nepataikė lemiamais momentais. Vis dar liūdna dėl šito pralaimėjimo. Bet prieš Italiją 2004 tikrai privalėjome laimėti. Italai nebuvo tokia stipri komanda kaip atrodė iš šono. Bet 2000 finale turbūt patys lengviausi varžovai Prancūzai

[@MuhammadTaufik-lw3xv]

If Arvydas Sabonis had played for Lithuania, Lithuania would have won the game

[@gridgazer]

If LTU had brought Sabonis, USA would have brought Shaq or Tim Duncan. As it turned out, the starting center for LTU, Eurelijus Žukauskas, was both excellent and underestimated. Much of this video is a Žukauskas highlight reel. BTW this was a strong USA team. In the All-Star game earlier that year, Kidd and Garnett had started for the West and Payton was a reserve. Carter and Mourning had started for the East and Houston was a reserve.

[@vandrosia]

@Manu Oviedo Poor Argentina. They kicked USA's ass and four Olympics later, USA has four gold medals and Argentina only has memories.

[@briansam2524]

@@gridgazer - Shaq did not want to play because of his lack of playing time in the '96 Olympics plus he was angry at Wilkens who told Shaq that he (Shaq) would be playing more minutes in future Olympics but he (Wilkens) was going to give more minutes to David Robinson who was going to play in his last Olympics.

[@madmax6654]

@@briansam2524 exactly I think in basketball you have to be skillful, of course, but you have to be a team player there’s five guys out there and the joker proved that the season with the way he plays basketball.

[@jarenmontaos5195]

​@@gridgazerLol. This team USA is not as strong compare to other Dream Teams

[@Ellenellen089]

Im A bloody bloody Lithuania, at this time Im 27, back in the days, I presume being 12 or sth.; the only thing Im proud more than this. Is that that we actually started Soviet Union collapsed. We are something for God sake.

[@tfi4310]

Elena Pečiulė never really thought about something like this. Winning a basketball gold medal and beating team USA must be what kids dream of in Europe.

[@doncarloancelotti2256]

@@tfi4310 *basketball fans in Europe

[@vecislt]

@@tfi4310 not really. Basketball is not as popular as you imagine in EU. Football or "soccer" as Americans call it is the main sport in EU :) best ballers get like 3-4 million salary at most in EU. And thats like only few max up to 5 players. While Tier2 football players earn similar :) EU is all about football and that will probably never change. Football is just better. I used to like basketball, but it really boring. 1-2-3 Q doesn't matter in basketball. Only 4Q is entertaining.

[@riquelmeveron7829]

Alguem tem este jogo inteiro?

[@user-ik5uw8vz8j]

Você tem este jogo inteiro?

[@billny33]

Mike Breen at the end shouts "OH NO!" when Lithuania's guy missed the last shot. It almost sounds like he was disappointed USA won and was rooting for Lithuania by that point. Strange.

[@walterlv01]

He does that - if you watch the end of NBA games to this day when a team misses a shot at the buzzer he will often say "OH NO!" just like here.

[@billny33]

@@walterlv01 interesting, I thought he usually just went with the classic "no good!" I also wondered if maybe that was his automatic reaction to a final shot that wasn't even close to going in like in this case.

[@walterlv01]

Could be that also - watch the end sequence of G5 of the 2006 NBA Finals to see one other instance where he uses it

[@konjer15]

Three months ago he said on the Lowe Post podcast that that’s one of the calls he wishes to be able to do again. It was just a call in the moment (he often says “oh no”) and he hates it cause it does sound like he was disappointed

[@billny33]

@@konjer15 that is good to know. It's nice to hear reflections like that sometimes. Usually we don't get to know when an announcer thinks he blew the call, so we just assume that's how he would always have called it. But we are all human, make mistakes, have regrets. Even one of the greats like Breen.

[@zpacify]

The US had stars here, while some were young there were veterans. But this showed that you cant just put together a talented team, it's got to be cohesive and the lineup needs to make sense as smaller countries that are less talented showing the US team how to play team basketball.

[@vecislt]

You need stars, shooters and rotation players. You can't put 15 players that score 30 every game and expect them to somehow work together. While that worked many years ago due to massive gap between NBA and EU now it is different. This game I think was sort of first sign that basketball is changing :)

[@bakuvian]

This U.S. team wasn't as strong as the Original Dream Team or Dream Team 2 that played in Atlanta; however, they were still quite strong. Had Saras made that 3, this would've been the biggest ever upset against the Dream Team. Still remember the game and how Siskauskas missed those free throws.

[@terrorsquadlith]

nope, this was the best they had to offer

[@zpacify]

You could see here who had the real balls of steel: Vince. The rest like KG and Payton and even Kidd was playing hot potato the last 2 mins 🤣 It's understandable KG missed his free throws and they didn't win, that would have haunted him for the rest of his career. And I think other teams would gain confidence early against the US team and the gold medal game against France might be more close.

[@lukasjose3554]

Guess who lost 2 of 3 free throws in the ladt minute!!! Yes the same guy who lost 2 of 2 free throws with CSKA vs Olympiacos in the final 4 again in the last minute!!!

[@mmavrel]

ciskauskas?

[@linyekun7025]

Пох , политика Болел за прибалтов За "Жальгирис" !!!

[@jokiboki7849]

Jasikevičius zezno stvar na kraju, morala je neka izgrađena akcija, inače sve ostalo bilo je perfektno od strane Litvanaca, Ameri se nisu trudili u odbrani podcenili su Litvance.

[@areyashore]

Nope...was finkin of cliffy Lyons or Carter

[@areyashore]

Forgot how old you lot are... Also ran an app greenet today..excellent proxy VPN thingy..if ya ever need juan

[@mrlukasaslt1]

gal visą irašą turi šitų rungtynių su tais pačiais komentatoriais?

[@ioannisk.7637]

Siskauskas missing again important free throws.

[@Kicks-iw2xe]

The warning signs were there

[@VS-po8zc]

Well, if Jasikevičius could have managed that shot he would be a national hero :) It was pretty good fight anyway. Americans got a bit nervous, ha ha :)

[@allengreene9954]

He’s already an National Hero.

[@arturasmilasius1200]

we Are faster ! stronger ! basketball 800

[@KertShane]

whose here after USA lost to LTU 2023

[@Esterals_]

Lithuanian dream team

[@LESTIFISA]

lmfao Jason Kidd kissing his hand then missing the last free throw. What a clown 😂

[@billny33]

That was what he did before just about every free throw he ever shot in the NBA. It was his way to say hi to his little girl watching him on tv. Clown, you say?

[@vuls81]

Exactly. He obviously doesn't know anything about American players

[@gianlucamonti5611]

Not to his Little girl but to his Wife jumana after a domestic beef where he was arrested

[@Chronz]

@@gianlucamonti5611 that was after the split, one time he kissed his ass

[@perkinsvalentine]

How did U.S. win that? I didn't see them make a single shot..! Politics!

[@billny33]

The person who created this video was obviously a Lithuania fan and only edited it to show Lithuania highlights. I would really like to see the unedited last few minutes, see what heroics team USA mustered to re-take the lead.

[@gridgazer]

"When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news." A. Harmsworth, c. 1920. Not saying any of these elite athletes is a dog, BTW.

[@vuls81]

Exactly. I didn't see how they got the road back.

[@vuls81]

He skipped the part where the Lithuanian player misses two out of three free throws.. LoL. Payton pays great def and gets a turnover. Vince hits a floater. Kg misses bother free throws, but Mcdyess, with one arm pulled by a defender gets a rebound and puts it back up for two.

[@vecislt]

@@billny33 Not really heroics. Siskauskas missed free throws and that costed Lithuanians the lead. Also referees were in favor of USA. They let USA play how they want. Holding on to shoulders when jumping over and all that, but it's not why Lithuania lost. Siskauskas missed ft was the reason. He also managed to miss ft in Euroleague final twice I think that costed him a title or two :) he was amazing player, but he had some issues on ft when his team needed it most. It is what is. We can't blame him. He was amazing player :)

[@noelc.8830]

That pass at 1:57 is probably the best full court pass I've ever seen.

[@wloonie]

Nah. It's good but far from one.

[@zdenkolitavski9162]

Basketball final sydney olimpyc

[@genadijosokin2593]

Bil bi Sabonis i usa proletela.

[@VidiSLTU]

Lithuania 👍

[@edgarinis]

Dėl ko kovojo?

[@meskeriotojas]

Patekimo į olimpinį finalą

[@louiefernandez3835]

Congrats:::USA!!!!

[@myrainystours]

LTU is god

[@gregorioarcaute6535]

Only Argentina gold olimpic!!!

[@edgardtorres6162]

USA is USA 👍👏🤝🏀🏀🏀

[@arxeiapersonal8109]

Who is Jacikevicus?? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 American’s inability to pronounce names not written in English is really comical

[@Danny-sv7ic]

One of the worst Dream Teams ever!

[@nmzaki1]

If you compare this to Indianapolis FIBA World Cup team USA, only two years later, well, it's much, much better.

[@Danny-sv7ic]

@@nmzaki1 Haha..totally agreed.

[@SchmerzUndFeuer]

This is not a Dream Team, this a group of NBA All Stars, not the absolute best. Stop talking out of your ass.

[@juancarlosvega5542]

This selection USA is not dream team of the NBA.

[@vecislt]

There's only 1 dream team.

[@Doctor_Powerlifting]

Сейчас обыграть сша невозможно по политическим взглядам. Никому.