Latvia vs Lithuania Basketball Preview: Prediction, rosters and more for the 2023 FIBA World Cup
Latvia vs. Lithuania at the 2023 FIBA World Cup is a classification game that will determine the fifth and sixth-place teams in the tournament. The game will take place on Saturday, Sept. 9, inside the Mall of Asia Arena.
Lithuania was able to beat Team USA but failed to sustain the momentum against Serbia.
Meanwhile, Latvia bounced back from a tough loss against Germany and beat a Luka Doncic-led Slovenia.
Latvia vs Lithuania: Players to watch
Davis Bertans has been Latvia's biggest offensive threat and he is expected to carry most of the scoring load heading into this matchup.
Andrejs Grazulis has tallied 60 points in the last three games in the World Cup and they need him to step up again for them to have a good chance of keeping this game close.
Arturz Zagars is another player to look out for in the Latvian national team as he's averaging 13.6 points, 6.0 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game. Not far behind is Rolands Smits who has 12.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in seven matches.
Jonas Valanciunas of the Lithuanian team has been a monster inside the paint. He is also the top scorer so far for Lithuania with a total of 303 points in the tournament.
Expected to step up to help Valanciunas are Rokas Jokubaitis, Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Ignas Brazdeikis.
Latvia vs Lithuania: Odds, spread and moneyline
- Moneyline - Lithuania (-310), Latvia (+250)
- Spread - Lithuania (-6.5), Latvia (+6.5)
- Total - 173.5, Over (-112), Under (-108)
Latvia vs Lithuania: Prediction
It is very hard to ignore that Lithuania defeated Team USA just a few days ago but they were a different team against Serbia.
Nevertheless, they should be the easy pick to win this matchup against Latvia who will sorely miss Kristaps Porzingis.