6 games in the tournament. Consequently, the competition scheme was questioned in its reliability. FIBA World Championship 2006 The 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan had Lithuania matching the seventh place from their 1998 debut, but many saw this performance as an under-achievement. Lithuania started the tournament with a narrow two-point loss to Turkey, followed by an overtime defeat to eventual finalists Greece which had Lithuania suffering 25 turnovers. Confidence was restored with wins over Qatar, Australia, and Brazil, that qualified Lithuania for the knockout rounds against Italy. They won the match by three points 71–68, although Arvydas Macijauskas fouled Gianluca Basile during a 3-point attempt in the dying seconds which gave Italy the chance to level the score, but all three free throws were missed. Lithuania lost the quarter final match against eventual champions Spain by 22 points, conceding a total of 28 turnovers during the game. The consolation tournament began with another defeat: Lithuania lost a 12-point lead over Turkey in the last 3minutes of regulation, and the resulting overtime had Turkey achieving a 95–84 victory. Lithuania still won the seventh place match against Germany, 77–62. Sireika resigned soon after the championship. On 28 December 2006, Ramūnas Butautas, son of Stepas Butautas, was announced as the new coach of the team. EuroBasket 2007 EuroBasket 2007 in Spain held big responsibilities for Lithuania, that had to prove the failure in the previous continental tournament passed, while holding higher stakes for Olympic qualifying, restricted to only the medallists. The first international friendly of the year was played in the newly built Šiauliai Arena, the first time the Lithuanian team played in their "Sun City". Though, the debut ended up with a big surprise, as the visiting Swedish won 69–62. Further preparation games were variable for Lithuania as well, losing to Latvia and Spain as visitors while defeating Russia in Vilnius. A fifth Acropolis Tournament had Lithuania again getting second place after losing to the Greek hosts. Lithuania started EuroBasket well, crushing both Turkey (86–69), and the Czech Republic (95–75) before a harder group closer with Germany. Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 28 points, helped the Germans cut a 17-point Lithuanian advantage at halftime to just four by the game's end (84–80). Lithuanians successfully qualified into the second stage. Round 2 had Lithuania winning much disputed games against Italy (79–74), and France (88–73), before a sweeping of Slovenia 80–61. The quarter-finals had