Raptors Kleiza, Valanciunas Fall as Argentina Beats Lithuania

Argentina faced criticism in the runup to the 2012 Olympics after playing below their established standards in a series of exhibitions — but they came through when it counted. Luis Scola and Manu Ginobili looked anything but old and slow as the two NBA stars helped launch the quest of their native country — ranked No. 3 in the world by FIBA — for a third consecutive Olympic men’s basketball medal.

They handily defeated fifth-ranked Lithuania 102-79 in the opening Group A match for both teams on Sunday at the Basketball Arena at Olympic Park in the London district of Stratford. The game was a rematch of the bronze-medal contest at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, which Argentina won 87-75. Ironically, these two teams also started against each other in Beijing, with Lithuania winning that game 79-75.

Power forward Scola, who is now with the Phoenix Suns, led all scorers with 32 points in a winning effort. Longtime San Antonio Spurs guard Ginobili contributed 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Carlos Delfino, who has also played in the NBA and is currently a free agent, tallied 20 points.

“I felt very good,” Ginobili said in a post-game interview; he is set to face San Antonio Spurs teammate Tony Parker of France on Tuesday. “Of course the adrenaline at the beginning of an Olympic games kind of makes you forget everything, the aches, the pain and age. So (I) felt very energetic, very proud of my teammates. It was a wonderful game.”

Toronto Raptors forward Linus Kleiza had 20 points to lead all Lithuania scorers. Future Raptor and highly regarded center Jonas Valanciunas chipped in six points in just over 14 minutes on the floor. Toronto selected the 20-year-old 7-footer with the fifth overall pick in the 2011 Entry Draft, and signed to a two-year contract which was finalized last week. Valanciunas has won a world championship with his country’s under-19 squad last year and was named the FIBA European Young Men’s Player of the Year for 2011.

According to a story posted on BleacherReport.com, Raptors fans can look forward to the hustling style of the “Big V” as he also had five rebounds — two on offense and three on defense — and went 3-of-4 from the field. On the down side, he turned the ball over once and committed three personal fouls. The Bleacher Report story went on to say that Valanciunas should have been used more since Lithuania has few big bodies or scoring threats.

Lithuania’s next games in the group are Tuesday against Nigeria, Thursday versus France, then they take on the powerhouse United States “Dream Team” on Saturday.