Eurobasket is the name commonly used to refer to the men's European bi-annual championships. Founded in 1935, the league now consists of 16 teams representing 16 nations and features some of the best players and teams in the world, bar none. Russia edged Spain, the host company, 60-59 to win the Eurobasket 2007 gold medal, their first gold since the breakup of the Soviet Union which had claimed a total of 14 Eurobasket championships.
The game was close throughout until Spain broke out to a 59-54 lead on the strength of two baskets by Pau Gasol who finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots, but the NBA superstar also missed five of eight foul shots in the fourth quarter and committed five turnovers. The final turnover was fatal as he lost the ball in the paint to J.R. Holden who eventually made the winning basket with only 2.1 seconds on the clock. Gasol’s ten foot jump shot at the buzzer rattled in and out, sending 18,000 Spanish fans home in disappointment. It was Spain’s 6th silver medal at the Eurobasket games.
Andrei Kirilenko finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds. The tournament MVP award went to Russian team leader. “Victor Khrypa was also deserving,” said coach, David Blatt; “and let’s not forget the defensive job that Holden did on Gasol, and before that Tony Parker of France. We did not want to double team Gasol unless he put the ball on the floor. We played a lot of matchup zone and didn't allow Gasol to get the ball close to the rim. We wanted to put him on the line and it worked. We also did a great job against Calderon. He didn't play as well as he did in the last game against us.”
The leading scorer of the tournament was Dirk Nowitzki whose German team beat Croatia for fifth place. Nowitzki finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds and averaged 24 points for the tournament. The leading rebounder was Yniv Green of Israel who averaged almost ten rebounds a game.
Lithuania, a small Baltic nation, finished a ‘disappointing’ third, beating Greece 78-69 to earn the bronze medal. Lithuania was led by Theo Papaloukas with 19 points. The Greek team was the 2005 Eurobasket defending champion.
Lithuania was the first stop on a seven nation tour of Europe that included stops in Italy, Germany, France, Greece, Turkey and Israel. The European tour finished up in Paris with a game against the European all stars. Ken and I decided to join Matthew in Vilnius, the republic’s capital and largest city. This small nation of only 25,000 square miles is located on the Baltic Sea and shares borders with Latvia, Belarus and Poland. Lithuania declared its independence in 1990 after 46 years of occupation by the Soviet Union preceded by five years occupation by Nazi Germany. Lithuania was admitted to the United Nations in 1991 after the Soviet Union joined the rest of the world and recognized Lithuania’s sovereignty.
Ken and I flew first class on the flight to Vilnius and I took the opportunity to see what he knew about European basketball. I shouldn’t have been surprised. “Ken, it says here that Lithuania was disappointed with their bronze medal. Isn’t third place pretty good for such a small country?”
“Sure, except that the Lithuanians are accustomed to winning.”
“Well, it says here that they won in 2003, but before that they hadn’t won since 1939,” I pointed out, figuring I had finally gotten one-up on Ken. “That’s not what I would call a dynasty.”
“Ah, but you forget about the occupation. During the Communist era, Lithuanian players formed the core of the Soviet Union teams. Remember when the Soviets won the gold medal in 1988?”
“Who can forget?” I answered. “I can still remember the disputed last second field goal and the clock-controversy that followed.”
“Maybe so, but the Soviets won and that was the end of USA basketball dominance, don’t you agree?”
“No question about that. From that point on we stopped using college players and started the ‘dream teams’.”
“Well, what you might not know is that four Lithuanians formed the core of that Soviet team and did most of the scoring; namely Valdemaras Chomicius, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Sarunas Marciulionis and Arvydas Sabonis.”
“How can anyone pronounce these names, much less remember them?” I asked in genuine amazement, “and why would you want to?”
“Because I can,” Ken replied with his big I-got-you grin. “Furthermore, my illiterate friend, since Lithuanian independence in 1990, the national team has won bronze medals in the first three Olympics to feature NBA players. They finished fourth last year.”
“I give up,” I sighed. “You are the master of trivia. But why, why does a small country like Lithuania produce so many great players and teams?”
“Coincidentally, while I was doing my research last night,” Ken said with a wink, “I came across a great quote from a book written by Michael Ferch that addresses just this question;
“So why the drive in small countries to play basketball?”
As a Lithuanian noted: "In Lithuania today, if you have money, you have no reputation, because your money is black [market] money. If you have reputation, you are teacher, scientist, artist--but you have no money. Only a basketball player has money and reputation."
“Playing basketball has become more than just a game, it’s become part of their culture, a way to excel,” Ken added.
“You know, this is similar to what I found when I looked into why the Russians excel in tennis. I believe there is another factor that comes into play. They just want it more than we do.” I smiled inwardly as I recalled the years I spent in Paris at the French Open
Team Lithuania was led by current NBA players; Linas Kleiza of the Denver Nuggets, Darius Songaila of the Washington Wizards and Zydrunas Ilgauskas of the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, 6’10’ forward Andris Biedrins, from Riga, proved to be nearly unstoppable and led his team in scoring with 19 points. The score was knotted at 72 and the Lithuanian team had the ball out of bounds in their front court with only seven seconds left on the clock.
“This is a strong team,” I commented to Ken as we waited for play to resume.
“No question, they could beat a lot of NBA teams. Let’s hope we can stop them here and beat them in overtime.”
Matthew had other ideas as he came out of nowhere to deflect the inbounds pass to a teammate and raced up court where he took the return pass and dunked as the clock expired, disappointing the sellout crowd that had been primed for victory.
“Wow, can you believe that? That was just amazing,” Ken exclaimed. “I didn’t realize he was that quick.” Ken hadn’t seen Matthew play before and did not realize that last minute heroics were expected from Matthew.
“Yeah, sometimes I think Matthew is just toying with the opposition until the end of the game, when his competitive instincts take over.”
“That was unbelievable,” Ken repeated, shaking his head.
“Watch this,” I said pointing at the floor. “This is even more amazing.”
The crowd had stayed and their groans gradually changed to cheers and eventually to a standing ovation as Matthew congratulated one Lithuanian player after another, holding up their arm to salute the crowd. It was an impressive display of sportsmanship, culminated with a short speech.
“I want to dedicate this game to the past stars of Lithuanian basketball.” Sarunas Marciuliois was introduced first and received a standing ovation as Matthew recapped the highlights of his career as highlights were displayed on a high definition screen. Forty-five minutes and ten players later Matthew paused and waited for the crowd to calm.
“There is one player that is the icon of Lithuanian basketball and perhaps the greatest player of all time – bar none. I have the great pleasure of introducing …”
The noise from the crowd drowned out Matthew’s introduction as Arvydas Sabonis walked onto the court and stood awkwardly as the enthusiastic crowd gave him a tremendous ovation.
Word on the street is that Arvydas Sabonis was only a shell of himself by the time he made it to the NBA. Everything in Sabonis’ bio talks about how much better his Portland Blazer teams would have been had he played at an earlier age
. This is believable when you consider that by the time he entered the league he was 31 years old with several major surgeries under his belt, yet still one of the better centers in the league.
Like most international big men, he had the ability to play on the perimeter, knocking down outside shots, and dropping dimes with the same level of ability as a Bill Walton. Sabonis played seven seasons with Portland, helping them make the playoffs in each one of his seasons, as well as guiding them to two Western Conference Finals. Blazer fans can only imagine if they had Sabonis in his prime instead of Kevin Duckworth during their NBA Finals years. It’s safe to say that if Sabonis had been in his prime either Michael or Isiah would have at least one less championship.
As the applause died down, Matthew continued. “I also want to dedicate this game to the thousands of partisans and Jews that lost their lives during World War II and after, fighting for the independent Republic of Lithuania.”
I didn’t think it was possible, but the noise level in the 20,000 seat arena increased again with Matthew leading the applause for several minutes before waving good bye to the appreciative crowd.
“Amazing,” repeated Ken. “He had the crowd in the palm of his hand.”
“It’s like this everywhere he goes,” I pointed out.
The next stop was Berlin Germany where 20,000 screaming fans and politicians packed the arena for a game against the German National Team. Chancellor Kohl headed a delegation of politicians that were provided free passes by Matthew’s advance team.
“The Germans were led by Dirk Nowitzki, all-pro forward with the Dallas Mavericks and 2007 NBA most valuable player. Other German-born players with NBA experience included 7’4” Shawn Bradley who was raised in Utah and Detlef Schrempf who was born in Leverkusen, Germany, but moved to the U.S. in high school. The German’ guards were good enough to lead the team to world cup and Eurobasket championships, but they lacked NBA experience.
“Okay, Ken, here’s one for you. Who drafted Dirk Nowitzki?”
“The Dallas Mavericks, of course, or is this a trick question?”
“It’s not a trick, but just one of the worst trades in NBA history. The Milwaukee Bucks traded the rights to sign Nowitzki to the Mavericks for Tractor Traylor, a 6’9”, 300-pound journeyman out of Michigan State.”
“You would think that with all those Germans in Milwaukee, Nowitzki would have been a perfect fit for them.”
“And then ten years later they draft Yi when there are maybe, ten Chinese in the entire state.”
“Go figure; think what the difference that trade made for the two franchises.”
Nowitzki tried to make a difference tonight as he poured in 44 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Shawn Bradley was held to six points, but contributed 12 rebounds and a whopping nine blocked shots, but the German team’s inexperience at guard proved too much of a hurdle to overcome. The score was tied with five minutes to play until Matthew’s all-stars forced the German guards into four turnovers down the stretch. The final score was 77-71.
The basketball game was only a prelude to the main event. Chancellor Kohl found out the hard way that sometimes the price of a free ticket can be huge.
Matthew held the microphone and waited for silence. He started in a low voice that gradually increased in depth and power as he made his point. “Germany's parliament passed legislation in 1985, making it a crime to deny the extermination of the Jews. In 1994, the law was tightened. Now, anyone who publicly endorses, denies or plays down the genocide against the Jews faces a maximum penalty of five years in jail and no less than the imposition of a fine. Austria imposes even tougher penalties. Historian David Irving has denied the Holocaust and faces up to 20 years in prison.”
“These are facts that you all know. My question is this. How can you allow foreign leaders to deny the existence of the holocaust or the right of Israel to exist?” Matthew paused before continuing.
“Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has described the Holocaust as ‘a myth’ and suggested that Israel be moved to Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska. Previously, Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be ‘wiped off the map’. Last week, he expressed doubt that the Nazi’s killed six million Jews during World War II and Wednesday repeated that the Holocaust was a myth.”
“And what do we do about it? We issue empty condemnations. The leaders of the free world, particularly those of you with first-hand knowledge of what non-action can do, must do more. We need Germany to speak out!”
Matthew exited to a thunderous ovation while Chancellor Kohl and his advisors fumed and contemplated their options.
Chapter 14 - Babylon Complete