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GAME STATISTICS
GreeceLithuania
19/55FG M/A24/54
13/33 (39.4%) FG2P M/A9/28 (32.1%)
6/22 (27.3%) FG3P M/A15/26 (57.7%)
25/28 (89.3%) FT M/A15/19 (78.9%)
32 (10-22) Reb (O-D)35 (9-26)
8Ass14
7TO13
5ST4
4BS4
20PF26
69Pts78
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69-78
( 19-20, 15-21, 20-21, 15-16)
0
16 September 2007 19:00h
Madrid (ESP)
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TEAM LEADERS
Nikolaos Zisis23Pts19Ksistof Lavrinovic
Dimitrios Diamantidis7Reb8Linas Kleiza
Dimitrios Diamantidis4Ass5
5
Sarunas Jasikevicius
Ramunas Siskauskas
GAME REPORT
16 September 2007

The two last champions of Europe from 2003 and 2005 met on Sunday evening in Palacio de Deportes in Madrid and when the smoke cleared Lithuania beat Greece 78-69.

Lithuania hit two birds with one stone.

By winning the game they'll get to wear the bronze medal on the EuroBasket 2007 podium later on tonight, and also earned the third European ticket to the Olympic games in 2008.

Theodoros Papaloukas (Greece)
Theo Papaloukas had eight points in the loss.
Greece wanted to win a third medal in a row, but saw a tough Lithuanian group who recovered in time from the surprising loss to Russia in the semi-finals last night.

Ramunas Siskauskas continued his great form from the last games and downed a couple of three-pointers in crunch time to secure the win.

This time he was joined by Ksistof Lavrinovic and Linas Kleiza who shot very well both inside and outside the arc, to make sure Greece will stay behind for the vast majority of the game.

"It's not a gold medal but I'll take this," said Darius Songaila after the game. "For sure it's a great feeling. Now we're going to focus on the Olympics."

Sarunas Jasikevicius, who hammered the last nail in Greece's coffin, finished with 11 points and five assists despite a slow start.

Greece, once again, had only one player with a good shooting night, and this time it was Nikos Zisis.

He dropped in 23 points on 58% shooting from the field, but the total of the team was poor.

The team of coach Yannakis shot only 35%, and couldn't find the way to break the Lithuanian offense, despite forcing 13 turnovers.

Lavrinovic was in a zone in the first minutes, scoring seven points in a row for Lithuania, to make it 7-2 early in the game.

Greece didn't fall behind for long, played tougher on defense and with a 6-0 run got back into the game.

Sarunas Jasikevicius struggled in the first quarter, and for the last basket of the quarter
Ramunas Siskauskas (Lithuania)
Ramunas Siskauskas had 13 points in leading Lithuania to the bronze medal.
Dimitrios Diamantidis stole it from him going coast-to-coast for the lay up and making it 20-19 Lithuania after the first quarter.

Both teams had already six players involved with points after ten minutes, and they continued to rely on them.

Greece collected some offensive boards to take the lead back, but that didn't scare Ksistof Lavrnovic who stepped up with four more points, and gave Lithuania the lead back.

The game went a little out of control as the referees called a double unsportsmanlike foul on Diamantidis and Darius Songaila, and then came a technical on Lazaros Papadopoulos, which was his third.

Lithuania used the mess to take a 39-30 lead with 2:32 left in the half, and cap a 13-1 run, on the way to a seven point lead at the end of the half, 41-34.

Greece kept fighting their way back to the game, and never allowed Lithuania to get too far ahead, but eight points in a row by Kleiza, including two hits from long range, made sure the former champs would not come back.

Ksistof Lavrinovic recorded his 15th, 16th and 17th point with a three point play, to offset a 6-0 Greek run and allow Lithuania enter the last quarter up 62-54.

Greece tried to go with Spanoulis time after time but earned only two points on that, while Siskauskas was hot on the other end to make it 70-58.

Darius Lavrinovic and then Siskauskas blocked Greek shots to keep the margin on double-digits.

When the later nailed two big ones in a row from long range Greece needed a miracle to take the game, down by 11 with 2:02 to play.

Lithuania earned their first ever bronze medal and fifth medal in total in a EuroBasket.

Greece finished fourth and lost the bronze medal game for the fourth time in their history.

QUOTES
16 September 2007

Greece

Coach Panagiotis Giannakis: "The fans saw another good game. My team tried with heart and soul but we didn't have a fresh mind. Lithuania played better. It was a very hard tournament, we could have had a better result but also we could have had worse. We are in high level of European basketball. We didn't play as well as we could in our last game but at least we tried and that is important."

"We have an opportunity to get to the Olympics and each tournament will help us improve."

"Congratulations to Lithuania, we will keep working and we will continue to work."

Forward Panagiotis Vasilapoulos: "We tried to play as good as we know. Lithuania made a lot of three point shots. We tried to press them. We lost the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics, now we have to try next summer."

"I would like to say a big thank you to our fans, who have helped us in all these games."

Lithuania

Guard Sarunas Jasikevicius: "I'm very happy for the medal, not sure whether to be happy for the medal or for the fact that we will have several months off next summer.The medal is very important."
 
"I am the player of Golden State Warriors, this speculation about me going to Greece has been going on for two months now. There is nothing." 

Coach Ramunas Butautas: "I am very happy, very proud of my team. Greece fought like warriors but tonight we were better. We are tired, we must enjoy victory."

GAME PREVIEW
16 September 2007
Not only is the bronze medal up for grabs in the 2007 EuroBasket third place game between 2003 champions Lithuania and 2005 title-holders Greece but the winners also will clinch a spot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

So, there is plenty of motivation for both teams to bounce back from tough losses in the semi-finals.

Last Time Out: Lithuania lost in the semis to Russia 86-74 while Greece fell to Spain 82-77.

Key Match-Up: Dimitrios Diamantidis vs Sarunas Jasikevicius. Russia did a great job frustrating Lithuania's main man Jasikevicius, who had just five points and three assists with five turnovers in the semi-final loss. Expect Diamantidis to shadow Jasikevicius's every move.

X-Factor: Lithuania big men Ksistof and Darjus Lavrinovic. The twin brothers have combined for just seven points in their last two games but Lithuania need to have at least one in-form Lavrinovic brother to break down the Greece defense.

Stats: Greece held Slovenia to 27% (6-of-22) from three-point range in the quarter-finals but Spain lit up the still-reigning champions for 50% (11-of-22) on Saturday.

Sounding Off: Greece forward Kostas Tsartsaris: "We still have one more game and we want to win a medal."

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