By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Lithuania defeated Finland in Tampere and officially advanced to the next stage of the tournament, to be held in Riga, Latvia, but the bad news was that Rokas Jokubaitis suffered an injury in the final quarter of the game.
He had to leave the court with an apparent knee issue, visibly in pain, even lying down while making his way to the bench.
Head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis addressed Jokubaitis’ status at the postgame press conference.
“I’m sorry that we lost the most important player on our team, but it happens. We’re happy because we beat a really strong team at home – that’s not easy, especially in front of so many great fans,” Kurtinaitis said.
He then spoke in more detail about the situation.
“I’m not a doctor, just a coach. We’ll see later tonight or tomorrow. We need to take him to the hospital, but at the moment, I don’t know anything more. If we miss him, it would be a big loss for us. He’s one of the most important guys on our team.”
Jokubaitis, so far, is the top scorer, the top passer, and the first in steals among Lithuania’s roster, and most importantly, he is the only top-level point guard of the team. His absence may end up being devastating, and coach Kurtinaitis is not exaggerating at all.
On top of that, a Jokubaitis injury would be bad news for his new EuroLeague club, Bayern Munich, which earlier today learned that their big man Johannes Voigtmann, who competes for the German national team, is out for the rest of the tournament.
Photo credit: FIBA