101 Greats of European Basketball

It’s worth a look on Youtube for a video of that game. It
didn’t matter whether he was shooting from the right
or left wings, the corner or the top of the arc. His coach
that season, Dusko Ivanovic, remembered Stombergas
this way:
“Of course, his main weapon was his shot, but as
a shooter, he was smart, disciplined and with a heavy
dose of self-control. He shot with feeling, he knew that
if it was his day, like that night in Athens, he was able to
shoot non-stop. He was smart, a good defender, could
go for the rebounds and could also score penetrating.
Yes, he was a great player.”
In the EuroLeague final, the first and only one ever
decided in a best-of-five playoff series, Kinder defeated
Tau Ceramica by 3-2. Stombergas could not repeat the
title won with Zalgiris in 1999, but he made the history
books by being in the first repeat game ever of the competition
and by scoring 9 of 9 threes, still the record in
the competition.
The following season Stombergas would move to
Efes Pilsen, with which he won the Turkish League and
national cup, but for 2002-03 he was back to Zalgiris.
One year later he moved to Russia to play with UNICS
Kazan.
His next memorable highlight was winning the gold
medal at the 2003 EuroBasket in Sweden. It was the first
gold for Lithuania since 1939! A great tourney had its
best moment in the final against Spain, which featured
Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Felipe Reyes, Alberto
Herreros, Jorge Garbajosa and Jose Manuel Calderon.
Lithuania won 93-84 with 21 points by Macijauskas, 10
by Sarunas Jasikevicius, 18 by Zukauskas, and 9 by Ramunas
Siskauskas. Stombergas was the captain, and
now, a double European champion, with his club and
his national team.
In the summer of 2004, between UNICS and a new
stint in Turkey, this time with Ulker, Stombergas took
part in the Athens Olympics. On August 21, Lithuania
beat the United States 94-90 behind a great Sarunas
Jasikevicius (28 points) but also with a great Stombergas,
who scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. I
saw the game live and I remember the offensive festival
put on by the Lithuanian talents. Stombergas finished
the tournament with 12.3 points per game and left the
national team after 11 years with 97 games played and
1,036 points scored.
After a two-year hiatus, he played again with humble
Naglis Adakris of Lithuania, but in 2008 he retired
for good. One of the best shooters of the modern era
called it a career. With two European trophies, a Euro-
Basket gold medal plus two Olympic medals and another
EuroBasket silver, Stombergas has six important
titles and many good memories. Just as we do, after
having been able to enjoy his play – and most of all, his
sensational shot – for many years.
101 greats of european basketball
Saulius Stombergas
S