half, Lithuania deftly reduced the deficit and cruised past the French defense, outscoring them 45–25 to win the game 69–55 and take the group's leadership. The preliminary round ended with a perfect record as Lebanon was handily defeated 84–66. After sweeping China (78–67) in the eighth finals and crushing Argentina in a blowout game (104–85) in the quarterfinals, Lithuania lost to Team USA by 15 points. They captured the bronze medal after winning against Eurobasket's silver medalist Serbia 99–88. This was Lithuania's best World Championship result. EuroBasket 2011 After 72 years, Lithuania was again hosting the EuroBasket in 2011. The national team was under much pressure given both the expectations as hosts and the outstanding performance at the World Championship the year before. The team tried to combine future prospects and the past stars, but during the leading months, lost two of its starting players, Linas Kleiza and Jonas Mačiulis, due to knee injuries. During EuroBasket, Marijonas Petravičius was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism after three games played. Not only Petravičius had to miss the rest of the tournament, but the disease marked the end of his professional career. Numerous officials and other European basketball specialists and pundits found EuroBasket 2011 the best European tournament ever, particularly due to the Lithuanian enthusiasm for the sport. However, the Lithuanian team wound up underperforming, suffering an upset in the quarterfinals to Macedonia. The consolation playoffs led to a final standing of fifth place, giving Lithuania a spot at the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men. 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament Twenty years later, Lithuania had to go through a dedicated Olympic qualifier, held in July 2012 in Caracas, Venezuela. The top three teams would get spots at the 2012 Olympics basketball tournament. The team started off the tournament with a convincing victory against Venezuela, followed by an upset to Nigeria the following day. With all three teams tied with one win and one loss, Venezuela wound up disqualified due to a lesser point difference. Afterwards, many incidents regarding the Lithuanian squad were rumored to be caused by disgruntled Venezuelans. These included a tank column near the training hall polluting the air during the Lithuanian team workout, a broken bus during the trip to the arena before the quarter-final game against Puerto Rico, and vanished jerseys and water during said match. Despite all that, Lithuania managed to defeat Puerto Rico in