Jonas Valanciunas rates win over Slovenia, comments on Sasa Doncic's remarks / News - Basketnews.com

Jonas Valanciunas addressed the importance of Lithuania's remaining games in the World Cup. He also weighed in on Luka Doncic's performance and the edgy statement made by his father Sasa about the Lithuanian team.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Jonas Valanciunas paced Lithuania to their sixth win in seven games in the 2023 World Cup, while racking up another double-double. In the contest against Slovenia, where Lithuania prevailed 100-84, the New Orleans Pelicans big man recorded 24 points and 12 rebounds for a PIR of 29.

Player of the Game EFF 29 Jonas Valančiūnas Points 24 Accuracy 8-15 Rebounds 12 Assists 0

Overall, Valanciunas is having a great tournament with 14.7 points and 8.9 boards per game. Lithuania will have the chance to claim the 5th spot Saturday if they beat Latvia in their next classification game.

"We are playing for the fans that came here [to the Phillippines], watching us on TV and cheering for us," Valanciunas told the media. "Maybe these last two games don't mean much, but we are playing for the fans. We don't want to leave the World Cup as a team that gives up."

Lithuania were coming off a blowout to Serbia in the quarter-finals (68-87). Valanciunas is unsure whether the latest result and the team's performance helped to ease the pain after a loss in a do-or-die game.

"It's a good question whether it eases the pain at all," he replied. "I don't know, this loss prevented us from going further [in the World Cup]. It hurts.

No matter how much time will pass, [it will be seen as] a wasted opportunity. But it is what it is, you can't turn time back, and you won't change anything. We'll need to look forward to what comes next."

Following Lithuania's dropout from the medal race, Luka Doncic's father, Sasa, added some fuel to the fire with his postgame statements to Kurir.

"I think that Serbia was at such a high level that Lithuania turned out to look comical," Doncic said. "Serbia played a phenomenal game. I have to admit that for me the victory of Serbia is not a surprise, maybe it is a bit surprising such an easy triumph."

Lithuania head coach Kazys Maksvytis mentioned that Sasa Doncic's words also added extra motivation for the team. Valanciunas had a short comment to make.

"There are plenty of people who talk," he noted. "While some talk, others do the job."

Valanciunas thinks that the fact that Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic opted to keep Luka Doncic on the court for 37 minutes, even though the game had been decided early, shows that "Slovenia tried to win and didn't rest him."

"Good for him, he played plenty of time in the last two games," he added.

"I think we did rather well [on him]," Valanciunas continued, rating Lithuania's defense against the 24-year-old star.

"He will always score. He's a super-talented player, but we had to take away some of his reads, which was the plan. We achieved that, and we have a favorable result now."

Valanciunas thinks that among the four remaining teams, there's not a clear favorite to win the trophy.

"All of them are very strong. Each one of them has something special about them that no other team has. I think it will be a great Final Four," he concluded.

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