Gailītis: We're Learning to Win, but Haven't Yet

The Latvian men's national basketball team suffered a 77:87 defeat to Georgia in a friendly match in Riga on Sunday. After the game, head coach Jānis Gailītis told a press conference that the team's performance was uneven – a mediocre start, a better middle, but poor execution in the final minutes.

"We didn't play the end the way we wanted. One of the things we discussed is that we need to learn to win games, but this time we didn't know how to do it. We made bad decisions in the last five minutes," Gailītis said. However, he emphasized that the team is still in the middle of summer training and it's too early to draw harsh conclusions. The players tried, but some were overly cautious.

The coach had no complaints about the big men, noting that Roberts Blumbergs looked good and performed well. Meanwhile, he expects more from Artūrs Žagars, with whom he had a conversation after the match. The point guard played his first game of the summer and lacked rhythm and communication.

Team captain Rihards Lomažs described the performance as "wave-like," which he said is normal at this stage. "We always want to win, but today it didn't happen. Our main games are still ahead. There's definitely a lack of understanding in some areas, and some players need to find their rhythm, but that can be regained in training. There's still time before the real games, so nothing tragic happened," Lomažs said.

Latvia previously lost to Estonia 78:88 on Friday in Tallinn. Up next are 2027 World Cup qualifiers: away against the Netherlands on Friday and home against Austria on July 6. Gailītis noted that the Netherlands play a similar style to Estonia – fast, active, and energetic basketball. Lomažs added that they haven't started scouting yet, but the Dutch are a skilled team that plays quickly and physically.

In Group F, after four games, Poland leads with four wins, the Netherlands have two, while Latvia and Austria each have one.