Mindaugas Kuzminskas: 'The Latvians came here to fight and we came to look' / News - Basketnews.com

Mindaugas Kuzminskas was obviously disappointed by Lithuania's 35-point blowout loss to Latvia in the 5th-place game. The veteran forward mentioned a lack of motivation, took stock of his team's overall presence and explained what impressed him in Ignas Brazdeikis.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Mindaugas Kuzminskas called the performance of the Lithuanian national team in the match against Latvia 'shameful', but was pleased that the squad was unusually united in the latest version of the FIBA World Cup.

Player of the Game EFF 23 Arturs Kurucs Points 20 Accuracy 6-10 Rebounds 4 Assists 2

Kuzminskas, who went scoreless in 17 minutes in Lithuania's blowout (63-98) loss to Latvia, did not look for excuses after the match.

"I have no idea what happened," he told reporters. "The Latvians came to fight, to avenge their defeat [in a pre-tournament friendly], and we came here to look at them. I don't even know what to say.“

The Lithuanians achieved 6 victories in 8 matches, but that last performance and result killed all the good vibes for the new AEK Athens player.

"Our number of losses isn't bad, because the third-place winner will have suffered two losses, while the 4th-placed team will have three. But I would compare this game with a party, where everyone has fun and at the end, someone gets into a fight.

It seemed that everything was going well, even after our defeat to the Serbs. We were recovering, we beat the Slovenians easily, and now this game -- which you can describe with only one word – shame," Kuzminskas said.

"From the very beginning, you could see that they came to fight for every centimeter," the former New York Knicks forward commented on the game vs. Latvia.

"Look, all the 50-50 balls became theirs. This tournament looked fun, not bad, but with one match you can return with your head down."

Kuzminskas said he's not sure how serious Ignas Brazdeikis' injury will turn out to be, before he added that it's a pity that it happened in the last game of the tournament.

"He played wonderfully throughout the World Cup, he noted. "He did a lot here, although he does not do the same even in Zalgiris. I would say that here was one of the best versions of him that I have seen when we talk about his game, both personally and as a team."

The veteran player also weighed in on Rokas Jokubaitis's performances. The 22-year-old point guard finished the tournament with an average of 12.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists. He was also Lithuania's leading scorer in the game vs. Latvia with 16 points (on 6/15 from the field).

"I think everyone can be praised," he argued.

"It was probably the first time in my career that all the players were happy. I saw that Martynas Gecevicius said that it's impossible for all 12 players to be happy. One is unhappy with his playing time, the other with his role...Here everyone perfectly accepted their roles, reconciled with them, and was fine until today."

Kuzminskas vowed to join the Lithuanian NT next year when the time for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament comes.

"I definitely won't lack motivation," he said.

Support BasketNews so we could make even better content.