José Alvarado, Tremont Waters and company put on a show in front of 2004 legends like Carlos Arroyo and a crowd of 13,504 ecstatic souls at the Coliseo José Miguel Agrelot.
Puerto Rico’s attack came in waves and each of their runs had the force of a hurricane.
They led 11–3 in the first quarter, before Lithuania found composure and balanced things out. They then went on an 11–0 run in the second quarter (mostly courtesy of Waters) to turn a 6-point deficit into a 37–32 advantage.
Then came the entire third quarter, where Puerto Rico put on a clinic on both ends of the floor to extend the lead to 14 points at one point – a lead they maintained until the final buzzer.
Alvarado took the intensity up to 11 from the start of the game, and set the tone with suffocating defense, breathtaking speed and bull’s-eye accuracy from beyond the arc.
The New Orleans Pelicans guard scored 10 points in a crucial stretch of the third quarter where Puerto Rico took control of the game. He finished with 23 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals for 23 efficiency, while shooting 9-for-14 from the field and 4-for-6 from downtown.
For his heroics, the 26-year-old was also named the TISSOT MVP of the tournament.
Waters was a perfect assist player, scoring 18 points to cap an excellent individual week. He was also the intellectual owner of the best help for the entire event:
Rokas Jokubaitis (16 points and 3 assists), Domantas Sabonis (10 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks) and Edgaras Ulanovas (8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists) made solid contributions for Lithuania, but they were overpowered by the tidal wave. Couldn’t. That was the host country.
Puerto Rico managed to play fast and under control, finding better ball movement in the second half and making a flurry of three-pointers.
Nelson Colón’s team hit 12 of 25 shots from downtown, each of which served the dual purpose of keeping Lithuania at bay and causing “El Choli” fans to erupt in celebration.
Boricuas also dominated defense, limiting the Europeans to only 6 made three-pointers and holding them to 42 percent from the field.
Exactly 20 years after Puerto Rico stunned the world by defeating the United States in Athens, Boricua is returning to the Olympics. They will share Group C with the United States, Serbia and South Sudan in Paris.
Lithuania has now missed the Olympics in back-to-back editions after a good attendance at the Games since gaining independence in 1991.
“My 12 players, they are heroes. We made history tonight. We beat the 2 most powerful teams in the world here in our island and in front of our people because we believed and we prepared ourselves for this moment.” – Nelson Colon, Puerto Rico chief coach.
“The game was amazing. The atmosphere was great. This game was everything we worked for. For us, for the island, we knew it was more than basketball. We knew it was great to represent the island.” As a kid, I wasn’t born on this island so I’m learning a lot about this game and the history that comes with it, I’m so happy to be a part of it all. Great people made a path for us.” , Jose Alvarado, Puerto Rico point guard
“Thank you to both the Puerto Rican and Lithuanian fans for the great atmosphere. Of course special thanks to the Lithuanian fans for coming from so far. Puerto Rico was one step better than us today, one step faster. They pounced on Domas, they pounced on Grigonis. Got doubled up and we couldn’t find solutions or find ways to score.” – Kazis Maksevitis, Lithuania head coach
“We let this game get away from us. We couldn’t find ways to score on the offensive end and especially couldn’t get stops when we needed them.” , Domantas Sabonis, Lithuania power forward
FIBA
This post was published on 07/07/2024 4:51 pm
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