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Latvia, Lithuania to square off in 5th-place game at FIBA World Cup – NBA.com
Andrejs Grazulis powers Latvia's 87-82 win and Jonas Valanciunas leads Lithuania's 100-84 victory in Thursday's consolation playoff games.
The Associated Press
Latvia’s Andrejs Grazulis was on fire all game as Latvia defeated Italy in the FIBA consolation playoffs.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Latvia will play Lithuania for fifth place at the Basketball World Cup. And Slovenia and Italy couldn’t recover one day after seeing their hopes of making the tournament semifinals fall short.
Latvia earned its trip to that game by topping Italy 87-82 on Thursday in the start of the consolation playoffs. Lithuania then beat Slovenia 100-84 in the night’s second game.
Slovenia will play Italy for seventh place on Saturday, the same day that Latvia and Lithuania will play for fifth place.
Slovenia and Italy both lost Wednesday in the quarterfinals; Canada topped Slovenia and the U.S. rolled past Italy.
Lithuania 100, Slovenia 84
Braliukai will face off each other in the 5th spot game 🇱🇻🇱🇹#FIBAWC x #WinForLietuva
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) September 7, 2023
Lithuania (6-1) jumped out to a 12-point lead after one quarter and had little trouble topping Luka Doncic and Slovenia (4-3).
Jonas Valanciunas had 24 points and 12 rebounds for Lithuania, which got 15 points from Ignas Brazdeikis and a combined 18 assists from Vaidas Kariniauskas and Rokas Jokubaitis.
Doncic led all scorers with 29 points. Aleksej Nikolic had 14 points, Mike Tobey finished with 13 points and nine rebounds and Zoran Dragic scored 12 for Slovenia.
Latvia 87, Italy 82
Andrejs Grazulis took TCL Player of the Game honors after putting on a scoring clinic in a Latvia win vs. Italy 🔥
📊 28 PTS | 6 REB | 92% FG | 36 EFF#FIBAWC x #WinForLatvia | #InspireGreatness pic.twitter.com/NCRbm91BDu
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) September 7, 2023
Andrejs Grazulis made 12 of his 13 shots, finishing with 28 points and six rebounds to lead the winners (5-2).
Grazulis’ final shot of the night was a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left that sealed the win. Latvia finished the game 15 of 31 from 3-point range.
Aigars Skele added 12 for Latvia, which is playing in its first World Cup.
Playing the next-to-last game of his career with the national team, Gigi Datome led Italy (4-3) with 20 points. Italy played without Utah forward Simone Fontecchio, who was held out.
Take a look at the players who stood out the most during FIBA World Cup play on Sept. 6.
Team USA advances to the semifinals where they will face the winner of Wednesday's Germany vs. Latvia game on Friday.
Franz Wagner leads the way in an 81-79 win as Germany will face Team USA on Friday.
Take a look at the players who stood out the most during FIBA World Cup play on Sept. 5.
Take a look at the players who stood out the most during FIBA World Cup play on Sept. 6.
Team USA advances to the semifinals where they will face the winner of Wednesday's Germany vs. Latvia game on Friday.
Franz Wagner leads the way in an 81-79 win as Germany will face Team USA on Friday.
Take a look at the players who stood out the most during FIBA World Cup play on Sept. 5.
New Orleans' coach believes his team has what it takes to battle through injuries and compete at a high level.
Losing valuable reserve Bruce Brown hurts, but Denver remains stacked and has Nikola Jokic at the helm.
Milwaukee coach Adrian Griffin will have a star-powered lineup to work with in his 1st season at the helm.
Social media was abuzz upon hearing that Portland is sending its All-Star guard to Milwaukee in a blockbuster deal.
Donohue will stay on to assist with the transition to new NBA 2K League leadership until Oct. 31.
The NBA will hold its 4th annual NBA Jersey Day on Oct. 23, encouraging fans to wear their favorite jersey.
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