Jonas Valanciunas shows his value as Lithuania’s anchor at EuroBasket

Jonas Valanciunas took care of business early as Lithuania swept Montenegro aside at EuroBasket 2025. The fate of Lithuania in this tournament rests on the shoulders of the Denver Nuggets man. Emmet Ryan on how JV delivered while also keeping something in reserve.

Lithuania had a plan. Get the absolute most out of Jonas Valanciunas as early as possible so they could sit him. The Denver Nuggets man delivered and, in the process, helped to brush away the drama of the summer. At EuroBasket 2025, we’re seeing a fun version of Valanciunas.

The obvious and effective

Lithuania spamming Jonas Valanciunas at EuroBasket 2025 was never going to surprise anyone. It was when JV took a planned elbow three that you knew it was going to hit another level against Montenegro.

With no Domantas Sabonis or Matas Buzelis for Lithuania in Tampere, the plan was always to lean on the Denver Nuggets big man. That approach was exacerbated in the game with Montenegro. It mad sense, the Balkan side was going to lean on Nikola Vucevic so getting JV to take charge was optimal.

This was particularly relevant given the context of this game. Montenegro was essentially the trap opponent. This was the one side Lithuania had to worry about in terms of breaking up the big three of this group in Tampere. Beat them and the maths becomes a lot clearer through the remaining three games.

The other context

EuroBasket, in the old days, was nasty on the bodies of players. They’d play 5 games in 6 days and lump it. The extended format now means there’s only one case of back to back games. For Jonas Valanciunas and Lithuania at EuroBasket 2025, their back to backs were this game with Montenegro and tomorrow’s battle with Germany.

The Germans are the second favourites to win the whole tournament, only behind Serbia. They also had their game on Friday earlier than the Baltic side. That meant that maximising rest was critical. Lithuania’s approach to this game was one of trying to kill it by the half in order to drop the energy needed in the remaining 20 minutes.

There’s going to be a lot asked of Jonas Valanciunas on Saturday morning. The Denver Nuggets man is used to carrying the load for his national team but these circumstances are unique. The second half of a back-to-back against a team expected to go the distance is not for the faint hearted.

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