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Marijonas Petravicius, Lietuvos Rytas
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 One of the biggest winners at the 2009 Eurocup Final Eight in Turin was Marius Petravicius of Lietuvos Rytas. Petravicius was severely injured less than four years ago when he played for Oostende and briefly played in Kuwait before joining L. Rytas in the summer of 2006. He completed his improbable run from little known to star by leading L. Rytas to its second Eurocup title, earning Final Eight MVP honors in the process and qualifying his team directly to the 2009-10 Euroleague regular season. L. Rytas has now made it to the Euroleague through the Eurocup in each of its last three appearances in the competition: 2005, 2007 and 2009. Petravicius will never forget the title game against Khimki, in which his team rallied from a double-digit deficit in the final 14 minutes to wind up lifting the trophy. "We had done that before in the Lithuanian Cup final against Zalgiris. We were losing by like 16 points and came back in the fourth quarter. It was not a huge experience to us, because we had been in a similar position before," Petravicius told Eurocupbasketball.com. "We kind of learned this year not to give up. Even if you are down, the game is not over until the final buzzer and we proved it in the final."
Before the Final Eight, your old university teammate and Eurocup MVP Chuck Eidson said the key for Lietuvos Rytas would be how well your teammates could take advantage of you inside. Was he telling you the same thing?
"I think that we played really well as a team. As a point guard, Chuck puts us all at the right spot, to look for penetrations, kicking the ball out or passing to me. He played a lot of time as a point guard in college. I was surprised that last year or even in the beginning of this year he didn't play point guard. I knew he was a good point guard and that was one of the biggest parts of his game. He is taller than the other point guards against him."
Let's go through the weekend's game, one by one. Benetton was a battle, the toughest quarterfinal in some people's minds, almost a game without a favorite and part of an electric first night of the Final Eight. What sticks out in your mind from that game?
"Benetton was very well-prepared against us. It is a balanced, well-coached team and it wasn't an easy game for us. It could have gone either way for us, any minute. We knew that if we kept it close and fought hard we could beat them. We knew Hemofarm had already beaten Dynamo so if we won, we were in a good position."
Hemofarm in the semis offered a different challenge, great fighters and a 2.22-meter big man you had to face, Boban Marjanovic. How did you deal so well with him and with Hemofarm tying the score with three minutes left?
"Well, we came in to the Hemofarm game knowing they had played very well against Dynamo. They are a young team, but at the same time, they have been playing together for a long time, even in national teams. When we were scouted them, we saw how well they read each other, passing, kicking the ball out... They knew exactly where their teammate was going to be. Of course, Marjanovic was a surprise for us. We made sure we were able to penetrate and kick the ball out. We knew Hemofarm is a very energetic team that would fight until the last second. That is what happened, they came back but we managed to stay very concentrated to make sure we won the game."
 The final will be remembered for a long time as one of the greatest comebacks in such a setting. Is it true, as Coach Kurtinaitis said, that you guys planned to save something for the fourth quarter by not defending so aggressively as usual early? Is that why you weren't concerned to be 14 points down late in the third?
"I wouldn't say so. Khimki was a completely different team than Hemofarm. There were a lot of very strong individual players compared to Hemofarm's team basketball. Khimki was a very good team, though, and came out strong. Maybe they didn't expect that much from us. They hit big three-pointers that put us behind in the game. We knew that anything could happen if we kept the game close. We had done that before in the Lithuanian Cup final against Zalgiris. We were losing by like 16 points and came back in the fourth quarter. It was not a huge experience to us, because we had been in a similar position before. We kind of learned this year not to give up. Even if you are down, the game is not over until the final buzzer and we proved it in the final. You can win any game even if you are down in the third quarter. We kept fighting, came back and it became harder and harder for Khimki."
You played in Kuwait before joining Lietuvos Rytas. How was that experience?
"It was kind of fun. I finished the season with Ventspils and my agent offered me to go to Kuwait for a week to take part in the FIBA Asia Championship in Kuwait. For me, I decided to go because of the experience and the fun part. It was a completely different culture and basketball style. I think it was a good experience for me, a chance to see a different kind of basketball."
You also underwent tough times through your career, especially when you sat out a season at Oostende with a severe injury. What kept you going those days?
"It was a tough year because I had no idea if I would fully recover. I knew I would do all my best to recover, but when you have an injury like that, you never know if everything is going to go well. I set up my mind to do everything possible from my side, doing rehabilitation right, being patient and seeing what happened. Of course there were some moments when I had a very hard time because of the injury and also for future worries. At the same time, I did my best and thankfully good things happened."
We have mentioned that you and Chuck were together for several years at university. Were you very close friends then, and did you help recruit him to Lietuvos Rytas?
"We came in both as freshmen. Of course, freshmen stick together, because it is your first year at college, a completely different experience from high school. We helped each other, all freshmen, and there were five of us in that team. We were good friends and roommates throughout our college careers. We were pretty close and when we offered him to come here to Lietuvos Rytas, I talked to him. I told him about the club and yes, for sure we talked about it a lot before he came here."
 You played for the Lithuanian national team for the first time last summer at the Olympic Games in Beijing. How did that experience help you prepare for this season?
"I think it was a great experience to play in such a high-level competition. I faced the best players in the world, basically. You learn to play against these players and they are the same ones you face in big games in Europe, too. For instance, when we faced Khimki, I had faced Jorge Garbajosa and Carlos Delfino at the Olympics. It is high-level experience that you can use in finals. It helps you to avoid being thrown out against one of these teams full of very good players. You know you played before at that level and just can focus in the game."
What was it like to return to Vilnius with the Eurocup? What does the title and the return to the Euroleague mean to the club’s fans?
"It was great! When we landed at 3 A.M. there were a huge number of Lietuvos Rytas fans waiting for us in the airport. That says a lot about our fans. It was the night before a working day, from Sunday to Monday, but all the people were celebrating, waiting for us, to congratulate us, everyone was happy... That means a lot. We had a great number of fans coming to meet us at 3 A.M. It shows how great this win was for Lietuvos Rytas and also for Lithuanian basketball."
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Javier Gancedo, Eurocupbasketball.com
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