They ended up in the bronze medal game against none other than the Soviet Union. Lithuania cruised through the group stage, beat Brazil in the quarterfinal, and then got obliterated by the Dream Team. Thanks to them, the Lithuanians were on their way to the Olympics. They invited the Lithuanian team to a concert where they cut them a check for $450,000 and presented them with special Lithuanian-flag-colored tie-dyes. The band members were self-described 'proponents of freedom' ( hippies) and basketball fans ( thanks entirely to Bill Walton). Marciulionis, along with his ( assistant) coach Donny Nelson in Golden State, ran ads in San Fransisco newspapers, one of which caught the attention of the legendary rock band, The Grateful Dead.įor those who don't know, the Dead are one of the greatest and most popular American bands of all time. Nevertheless, the players tried to raise money on their own. The newly formed country didn't have enough money to even send the team to Barcelona. They only had one problem - they were completely broke.
Sabonis and his teammates finally had the chance to represent their own country internationally at the 1992 Olympics. Lithuanian players included future NBA stars Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marciulionis.įollowing a brief struggle, Lithuania declared independence in 1991. For context, Lithuania at the time had a population of 3 million, whereas the population of the entire Union was over 286 million. At the 1988 Olympics in which the USSR won gold, 4 of the 5 starters on the Soviet team were Lithuanian. It would remain that way for close to 50 years. Then the war started, and Lithuania found itself under Soviet occupation.
They won gold at the 19 Eurobasket, with Lubin acting as a player-coach ( despite being far and away the best player at the 1939 tournament, Lubin was not allowed to win the MVP award because he was taller than 6'3). The sport first gained popularity there in 1936 when Lithuanian-American Frank Lubin ( who is an absolute legend, but that's a story for another time) left the US and joined the Lithuanian team. Lithuania is a country with an incredibly rich basketball history. I'm not sure how well-known this story is among basketball fans, so I thought I'd write a short summary here.
0 kommentar(er)
