Werder Report

[WerderBremen]

Article on Krivas:

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-u20-eurobasket-2024/news/player-spotlight-motiejus-krivas-the-next-lithuanian-giant

[WerderBremen]

Very rough quarterfinal day for our two players:

Spain / Conrad:

Spain lost on a buzzer beater to France. Conrad hardly played. In 5 minutes he had 0 pts and 2 assists.

Lithuania / Mount K:

Lithuania lost to Greece and pretty much the main reason was the ejection of Krivas. He had a technical at the end of the first half. The camera did not really picture what happened. It looked like he celebrated too much or "unsportsmanlike" after Paulius beat the buzzer. At the end of the third quarter Greece had a fast break and the big man from Greece fell because he had his feet tangled with Krivas and Krivas also held on to him for a fraction of a second. Both calls were weak imo and as a result the refs pretty much decided the game. As usual Krivas played well. He had 9 pts, 5 rbs and 2 blks in 15 minutes. The ejection kinda screws up his stats. He had a chance to finish at the very top in a lot of categories.

Oh well, at least we get to see a Conrad vs Mount K match up on Saturday. Game will be at 0400 your time. Krivas will face Aday Mara from UCLA.

[WerderBremen]

Tournament is done. This is how it ended up for our two players:

Krivas / Lithuania:

Lithuania finished 5th out of 16 teams. As mentioned earlier they were unlucky in the quarterfinal versus Greece. That Krivas ejection imo decided that game. Krivas finished the tournament averaging 20 min, 13.7 pts, 8.9 rbs, 1.1 asts, 2 tos, 2.1 blks. With shooting percentages of 60.4 from 2, 50 from 3 (4 shots), and 76.5 from the line. Here are his stats:

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-u20-eurobasket-2024/teams/lithuania/296877-motiejus-krivas

Overall he ranked 14th in scoring, 3rd in rebounds, 1st in blocks, 4th in efficiency. All the players ranked about him played (significantly) more minutes.

Krivas did not make the all star team. Murauskas by the way had a fantastic tournament. He ended up 2nd in scoring and rebounds and first in efficiency.

Overall I was happy with his (Krivas) performance. Of course there are always some things he could have done better. They double and tripple teamed him a lot and at times he was too slow passing out of that coverage resulting in turnovers. Nice to see that he went 8 for 8 from the line in his last game.

Martinez / Spain:

Spain ended up 7th. Frankly speaking Conrad was at the bottom of the rotation for Spain. Only one player played less than him. He was the third option as a point guard. Now the two pgs in front of him were part of the world cup winning u19 team, so this is not that big of a surprise. Also helps that they are 6-4 and 6-6, but honestly when you want to be Arizona good and be a factor in the Big12, that is probably not a good sign. Conrad averaged 11.7 mts, 3.3 pts, 3.7 asts, 1.4 tos. Here are his stats for the tournament:

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-u20-eurobasket-2024/teams/spain/300487-conrad-martinez

What he does exceptionally well is assisting / passing. Only playing his 12 minutes he still ended up 10th in assists for the tournament. On a per 40 minute basis he ranks first by a huge margin.

Here comes the bad news. I looked at his U18 Eurobasket, Arizona, and U20 Eurobasket numbers and here are his numbers from three and from the line overall:

Three: 5 - 35, 14%
FTs: 18 - 28, 64%

I am really rooting for the guy and want him to do well, but needless to say, you can't be tiny and as a result a liability on defense and also shoot poorly. That is a killer combination.


Dame Sarr:

For a while it looked like Sarr would not play for Italy this summer, which I took as an indication of things to come. But now it looks like he will play in the U18 Eurobasket which starts Saturday. Feels like a bad sign.

[lsg_da_apache]

Thanks for the very detailed report WB, as I think Krivas will be a force to reckon with. While as it points out that Martinez's shooting will not be "Arizona " good, but we can all be picky about who we want at the 1 because that position is the position that determines the flow of the game. Also we are picky,because of all the great ones we had.