FIBA Baltic World Cup 2023: ''Those are our brothers''

MANILA (Philippines) - Lithuania and Latvia make up for just 0.06 percent of world's population. But their basketball teams make up 25 percent of the top eight teams in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

Lithuania is the bigger brother here, with 2.8 million people living there. Latvia is just under two million, with 1.9 million inhabitants on the shore of the Baltic Sea. To say basketball is a religion there would sound fair, because both Lithuanian and Latvian fans are packing the stands in Asia.

The yellow-green ones from Lithuania have made Mall of Asia Arena their home since day one of the competition in Manila. Now they will get another shade of color, because the unreal support of Latvian fans is moving from Jakarta to Manila for the Final Phase this week.

"Those are our braljukas, as we say," Latvia's Arturs Zagars was happy for his neighbors.

"Those are our brothers, man! Country-wise, we have similar amount of people, which is not a lot and now we are both in the top eight. It's a huge deal for us. I'm very happy for them and I guess they're happy for us as well. It's just mutual, until we play them."

The funny thing about being brothers, there's nothing like a bit of a sibling rivalry. Just like you and your brother or sister fought over toys or during various board games, the same goes with Lithuania and Latvia. They love each other, but their matchups are fierce and full of contact even when we're talking about friendly games.

"No matter how heated our friendly game got in the preparations, but we still supported them. We have friends and acquaintances there. When you're watching, you're always supporting the underdog," Lithuania's Mindaugas Kuzminskas said.

Lithuania were the talk of the town with their win over the United States, while Latvia made waves with their win over France in the First Round, and another two over Brazil and Spain in the Second Round. Those happened just about the time when Jonas Valanciunas was asked what was the biggest surprise of the tournament.

"Probably our brothers (Latvia). They're playing good basketball, they're playing with confidence. They've beaten teams like France and Spain; the basketball they're playing is really good."

Latvia could be considered the grandpa of European basketball, they won the very first FIBA EuroBasket back in 1935, and finished second in 1939. Rigas ASK was the biggest club in all of Europe in the 1950s, winning three consecutive European Champions Cups from 1958 to 1960 - only Jugoplastika Split managed to do it since, from 1989 to 1991.

Lithuania were following their neighbors closely, because they picked up the second FIBA EuroBasket gold in 1937, and finished just ahead of Latvia in 1939. They have been the bigger brother in terms of results since the 1990s, winning another FIBA EuroBasket gold in 2003, with three silvers, and one bronze from that competition, plus three Olympic third-place finishes, and a FIBA Basketball World Cup 2010 bronze, as well.

In other words, we are used to seeing Lithuania do this, at this stage, especially in the 2000s and 2010s. But to see Latvia get among the top eight on their first try, in their first ever FIBA Basketball World Cup appearance, and doing so in arguably the toughest part of the draw, that's the feel-good story of 2023.

"This is incredible for us. We are like brother-countries. To be in the top eight in the World Cup is something amazing," Rokas Jokubaitis said with a broad smile.

The draw put them in different parts of the bracket. If Lithuania manage to defeat Serbia and Canada or Slovenia, and if Latvia do the same against Germany and then Italy or USA, we could have an all-Baltic Final in Manila.

Sounds improbable. But if there's just 0.06 percent of a chance, they may just do it.

FIBA