Silver Liningby Tim Layden
At the finish, sweet and improbable, full of emotion and ramifications beyond just a single day, the Lithuanian players found each other in celebration. Sarunas Marciulionis rushed from the bench, where he had been chained by fouls for two excruciating overtimes, and wrapped 36-year-old teammate Rimas Kurtinaitis in a joyful embrace. Arvydas Sabonis, forced to play 48 of the game's 50 minutes on fragile knees before fouling out with 2:16 left in the second overtime, slapped at injured teammate Arturas Karnisovas with a towel, both of them giddy.
Slaven Rimac and Croatia couldn't get past Karnisovas (12), Sabonis (11) and Saulius Stombergas.
photograph by
"It was lucky," Marciulionis would say later, trying to make sense of a victory that had at times seemed impossible. But the Lithuanian team, which in its four years of existence has endured so much, helped create that luck in beating Croatia 83-81 in double overtime at Morehouse College last night. As pure athletic spectacle the game stands on its own, a riveting show on the opening night of the men's basketball tournament that will be hard to match over the next two weeks.
But more than that, this game accentuated the fact that the very best of the non-Dream Teams in the field—Lithuania and Croatia and Yugoslavia—are on a curious quest. Go for the silver seems to be their charge, which runs contrary to the spirit of any competition, Olympic or otherwise. The outcome of the Lithuania-Croatia game was critical to that charge because both teams knew the loser would almost certainly play the United States in the semifinals, and thus have no shot at the silver medal. The top four teams in each of the two six-team pools advance to next week's quarterfinals, and the team finishing second to the U.S. won't face it again until the gold medal game. "In our pool we want to be second, that's obvious," said Marciulionis, who plays for the Denver Nuggets.
The U.S. started the march to its seemingly inevitable gold medal with a 96-68 victory last night over Argentina at the Georgia Dome. In one of the preludes to Lithuania's stirring victory, Yugoslavia gathered itself in the final minutes and beat Greece 71-63. That victory was the first step toward what many had assumed would be one of the most emotional moments of the basketball competition: a semifinal game next week between Yugoslavia and Croatia. But Lithuania stood as the principal obstacle to that happening.
With 3:08 left to play in the second overtime, Croatia held a 77-74 lead and seemed poised to win. Lithuania was without NBA and international veteran Marciulionis, the soul of not just this team but of Lithuanian basketball, who had fouled out with
26 seconds left in regulation. And it was without Karnisovas, who had sprained his right ankle and left the game with 2:55 to play in the first overtime.
"That was a very dark moment for out team," Marciulionis said of the losses.
The burden of survival fell to team captain Kurtinaitis, the star of the Soviet Union's epochal semifinal upset of the John Thompson-coached U.S. collegians at the Seoul Games eight years ago. A 6'4" guard whose forte has always been the outside shot, Kurtinaitis made a three-point basket with 2:57 remaining in the second overtime and was fouled on the play. He converted the free throw—a four-point play—to put Lithuania in front 78-77.
Toni Kukoc, the Chicago Bull whose appearance in the game was doubtful because of a broken left (shooting) thumb, was fouled on a three-point attempt at the other end and made all three free throws to put Croatia back in the lead 80-78 with 2:44 left. Then came what seemed to be the death knell for Lithuania:
On a day when Kukoc (7) was dealt a losing hand by Sabonis (11) and Karnisovas, Greece was slammed by Danilovic and Yugoslavia (right).
photograph by
Croatia, however, turned the ball over twice in the next minute. Finally, with 1:06 to play, Kurtinaitis drilled a three-pointer from the right side, putting Lithuania back on top 81-80. The Lithuanian bench stood and shook fists at the sky. Dino Radja of Croatia, who just finished his third season with the Boston Celtics, tied the game by making a free throw with 51 seconds left, but with 28.3 remaining, Kurtinaitis drew a foul and made one of two free throws for an 82-81 Lithuania lead.
Croatia put the ball in Kukoc's hands, as it had, without success, at the end of regulation and the first OT. This time, with just under 20 seconds to play, he gave it up and 6'4" guard Rytis Vaisvila of Lithuania would not let him get it back. Two, three, four times Croatia passed the ball, never getting it to the best player Europe has ever sent to the NBA. Croatia's best chance of avoiding the Dream Team in the semis evaporated when Veljko Mrsic missed a forced jumper.
Kurtinaitis, subsequently, was fouled with 2.7 seconds left and made a free throw. Kukoc's desperate full-court heave fell short at the horn, and the celebration began.
In a postgame interview, it was Marciulionis who translated Kurtinaitis's answer to questions about his role in the game.
"He feels he's a supporting player," said Marciulionis. An uncomfortable grimace came to Marciulionis's face. "I wouldn't say that, but. ... "
Kurtinaitis's heroics ruined Kukoc's 33-point performance, including a stretch in the second half when he scored 15 of his team's 17 points. He had practiced with Croatia one day earlier, quieting speculation that the hand he had injured in an exhibition against Canada two weeks ago would sideline him for the opener. But Croatia coach Petar Skansi did not start Kukoc. "Most of the time we prepared without him," Skansi said. "He has a broken [thumb]; I wanted to see if we could play the game without him."
Croatia trailed 7-2 and appeared lifeless with just more than five minutes elapsed, so Kukoc was inserted and he played the next 45 minutes. "It was a very important game for us," he said. "If we beat them we could finish second in our group, which would leave us the easier way to the final."
Kukoc dominated large stretches of yesterday's game, displaying the open-court flair that had made him a legend before he came to the U.S. But he couldn't squeeze off a shot with the game tied at the end of regulation, and he just missed a tip-in that would have broken a 72-all tie at the end of the first overtime. Now his Olympic future is uncertain. "I feel plenty of pain," he said of the thumb injury. He did not rule out missing several games. More painful than the thumb is the likelihood that bronze looms in his future.
Yugoslavia, the favorite in the B pool, opposite the Dream Team, Lithuania and Croatia, lacks not in the least for star power, most notably Vlade Divac, the 7'1" center who was recently traded to the Charlotte Hornets after seven seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. He is joined by 26-year-old Predrag (Sasha) Danilovic, a smooth 6'7" guard who missed most of his first NBA season last year with the Miami Heat because of a wrist injury, and 6'9" forward Zarko Paspalj, who played briefly for the San Antonio Spurs.
But only one of these NBA types impacted Yugoslavia's late awakening against Greece. Even as Yugoslavia coach Zilimir Obradovic tried to put Divac back into the game in the final three minutes, Divac's replacement, Zeljko Rebraca, scored twice, pushing Yugoslavia in front 60-58. With 1:26
to play, Danilovic drained a trey for a 63-59 lead, sealing a win that should help keep Yugoslavia away from the same dark possibility—a semifinal
game against the Dream Team—that Lithuania probably avoided.
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