May 17, 2012
The Club Scene: Lietuvos Rytas
A young Saras Jasikevicius in Lietuvos RytasIn the decade-and-a-half since its inceptions, Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius has blossomed from an entertaining local side that produces great Lithuanian talent into a legitimate European powerhouse that is a threat in every competition it plays. With two Eurocup titles plus a trip to the competition’s title game in addition to three times reaching the Euroleague Top 16, Rytas has put itself in truly elite company. The club was founded in 1997 and from the very beginning has thrived under the sponsor whose name it takes, Lietuvos Rytas, the biggest daily newspaper in Lithuania. Lietuvos Rytas came to fill a hole left by what had been Vilnius's main basketball club, Statyba, which was founded in 1964 and had finished third in the Soviet Union championship back in 1979. But Rytas has already far surpassed those results.

The team started out with an all-Lithuanian roster, coached by Modestas Paulaskas and featuring solid players like Aurimas Palsis, Virginijus Sirvydis and Egidijus Mikalajunas as well as young talents like Arnas Kazlauskas. Lietuvos finished in fifth place with a 23-16 record in its first Lithuanian League season, after which it earned a spot in the 1999 Saporta Cup. Rytas decided to invest in some of the top talent in the country, young and old, and built a strong roster. In came rising star Ramunas Siskauskas to join veteran shooting legend Rimas Kurtinaitis and Andrius Geidraitis, the Lithuanian League's top scorer the previous season. Another newcomer was a promising Lithuanian playmaker who just finished his NCAA career at the University of Maryland, Sarunas Jasikevicius. That second season, Rytas made it all the way to the Lithuanian League final before losing to perennial champs Zalgiris Kaunas. It lost also in the first elimination round of the Saporta Cup against Aris Thessaloniki.

Jasikevicius left following that season, but Rytas remained the fastest rising team in Lithuania. The team signed promising Arvydas Macijauskas to team up with Siskauskas and form a deadly duo of perimeter shooters, while also signing its first foreign playmaker, Eric Elliott. To the frontcourt was added center Robertas Javtokas. In the 2000 Saporta Cup, the club reached a new level by knocking off Bosna Asa, Hapoel Jerusalem and FC Porto en route to a 2-point semifinals elimination at the hands of Kinder Bologna, which boasted a collection of stars who one season later would be Euroleague champions. Additionally, the team reached, but lost, the NEBL (Northern Europe Basketball League) final to CSKA Moscow. A first title was at hand, however, as Rytas won the Lithuanian League finals to break a decade of domination by Zalgiris.

Robertas JavtokasThe 2000-01 season came with big expectations, as former Euroleague winner Kestutis Sestokas joined a core of returnees, but no new titles were to come. In the FIBA SuproLeague, Efes Pilsen defeated Rytas in the third and decisive game of the eighthfinals playoff, and Zalgiris did the same in both the NEBL semifinals and the Lithuanian League finals. The next season, Rytas came back strong, riding one of Europe's best shooting quartets - Siskauskas, Macijauskas, Sestokas and Rimantas Kaukenas to a second NEBL title after beating Ural Great 79-74 in the title game. Rytas also advanced to the Saporta Cup quarterfinals. The team bounced back in the 2002 Lithuanian League as well by becoming the regular season champion and beating Zalgiris 4-3 in the best-of-seven final playoffs. It all came down to the final game in Vilnius, in which Rytas beat Zalgiris 86-78 in overtime as Macijauskas scored 31 points and Siskauskas 25 in one of the biggest thrillers in Lithuanian basketball history.

The club's ambitions continued into 2002-03 season, even though the team lost Javtokas for the whole season due to injuries from a life-threatening motorbike accident. Rytas returned to the Lithuanian League finals anyway, but Zalgiris got its 12th title with a 4-2 series victory. Macijauaskas starred in the summer of 2003 as the Lithuanian national team won its first-ever European championship, and he did not return for the 2003-04 season, for which Rytas joined the ULEB Cup. With the return of Javtokas, Rytas won its regular season group and stormed in the ULEB Cup quarterfinals before losing to eventual champs Hapoel Jerusalem on points. Rytas reached the Lithuanian League finals for the fifth time in as many seasons, but this time Zalgiris swept the series.

Lietuvos Rytas, 2005 ULEB Cup champA new look was required heading into the 2004-05 season, especially with the team having moved into brand new Siemens Arena, Lithuania's biggest, with 11,00 seats. To make up for the departure of Siskauskas, the team signed a Euroleague star in Fred House, solid playmaker Roberts Stelmahers and veteran big man Haris Mujezinovic. After a coaching change in midseason, it also added Tyrone Nesby, veteran Gintaras Einikis and Aaron Lucas. Rytas finished the ULEB Cup regular season tied for the best record, 9-1. And despite the loss of its leader, House, to injury, it survived three straight home-and-away series against Aris Thessaloniki, PAOK Thessalonki and Pamesa Valencia to reach the final. At the Spiroudome in Charleroi, Belgium, Rytas made club history by downing Makedonikos 78-74 for its first European title. Nesby and Simas Jasaitis led the winners with 16 points apiece while Javtokas had 14 and became the MVP by adding 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. That season also marked Rytas’s first in the Baltic League and it did not disappoint by reaching the finals, as it did again in the Lithuanian League.

There was a buzz around Rytas for the 2005-06 campaign as Neven Spahija took over the head coaching reins and led the club into the Euroleague for the first time. Big man Matt Nielsen was the most significant offseason addition as Rytas kept most of the roster from the previous season. Its winning chemistry brought results as Rytas reeled off seven straight wins in the Euroleague regular season, including at tough courts like FC Barcelona, Efes, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Milan en route to clinching a Top 16 berth and ultimately missing the playoffs by one win. But the season did not end there as Rytas marched to the finals of both the Baltic and Lithuanian League finals and walked home with both titles.

Chuck Eidson - Lietuvos RytasBack in the Eurocup for 2006-07, Rytas went through some more roster turnover both with players and coaches. By the stretch run, Aleksandar Trifunovic was on the bench and scorer Kareem Rush had joined the team and helped Rytas roll past Snaidero Udine, Strasbourg and FMP to find itself back in the title game. This time Real Madrid stopped Rytas in its tracks. Nevertheless, a return ticket to the Euroleague had been earned. In the meantime, Rytas picked up yet another Baltic League title and got back to the Lithuanian League finals, though Zalgiris took the crown back. Its second Euroleague season was much like its first. Chuck Eidson, Marijonas Petravicius and Hollis Price bolstered the squad and winning streaks of four and five games and road wins at Maccabi, Aris and Cibona, among others, allowed Rytas to win its regular season group with an 11-3 record. However injuries hurt the team in the Top 16 and it agonizingly missed the quarterfinals again by a single win. And despite reaching the finals in all other competitions, Rytas finished the 2007-08 season titleless.

The next year will surely go down as one of the best in club history. After a rocky start and a 3-3 Eurocup regular season, Rytas found its groove and started to reel off victories as it marched to the Eurocup Final Eight. Wins over Benetton in the quarterfinals and Hemofarm Stada in the semis set Rytas up against Khimki in the title game. Rytas trailed by 12 in the third quarter, but Arturas Jomantas and Steponas Babrauskas fueled a 17-0 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters and put Rytas ahead and head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis’s men held on to win. Petravicius led the winners and earned Final Eight MVP honors with 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting. Eidson was named Eurocup MVP as well. Then Rytas added all four possible domestic titles to finish an amazing dream campaign.

With the 2009 Eurocup title came another trip to the Euroleague. Despite a strong start to the season, which featured Bojan Popovic earning Euroleague October MVP honors and Martynas Gecevicius stepping up to prove himself as an elite scorer, Rytas lost five of its last six regular season games and missed the Top 16 on a tiebreaker. However Rytas regrouped to dominate at home by claiming the Lithuanian League and Cup double, which also marked the first time it had won either of those titles in successive seasons.

Mindaugas Lukauskis lifts Eurocup trophy!The 2010-11 season featured great drama as Jonas Valanciunas emerged as one of the game’s brightest young centers, Jasikevicus rejoined the team and Khalid El-Amin got his chance to lead a Euroleague team. Despit a 0-4 start, Rytas won its last three games to sneak into the Top 16. The second stage featured a buzzer-beating game-winning triple for a road win at Caja Laboral and a 1-point victory at eventual champ Panathinaikos. However in a must-win home game against Laboral for a ticket to the playoffs, Rytas came up short. Further disappointment was in store with a loss to VEF Riga in the Baltic League semis and defeats at the hand of Zalgiris in both the Lithuanian League and Cup finals.

Rytas aimed for a return trip to the Euroleague this season via the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds, but after wins over Buducnost and Cibona, Galatasaray stopped Rytas in the deciding game. Alas the team returned to the Eurocup and with Aleksandar Dzikic on the sidelines and several newcomers wearing the team’s traditional red and black, including Tyrese Rice, Lawrence Roberts and Ronnie Seibutis, Rytas marched through the regular season unbeaten. Now the club has its sights set on becoming the first ever three-time Eurocup champion. Hard work remains, but a look at the club’s glorious history proves anything is possible. In fact, a review of Rytas’s 15 years shows hard-working teams reassembling year after year, producing players of the highest caliber – including many future Euroleague and European national champions – and constantly rebooting and reloading to challenge for titles. Without a doubt, Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius is a club worth saluting!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Frankie Sachs, Eurocupbasketball.com
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