Emmet Ryan tried to watch the game between Zalgiris Kaunas and FC Barcelona over a choppy internet connection but sometimes the effort in acknowledging the moment is enough
It’s 8.20pm somewhere around Co. Tipperary. The train is bright but it’s too dark outside to have any idea where I actually am on my way to Cork. There was a game of basketball tonight in Kaunas, one that captured imagination here and raised hearts in a nation next door to it.
The 11th of March is Lithuania’s national day but Zalgiris Kaunas made sure today was not about Lithuania, at least not just Lithuania. Bedecked in special uniforms to match the flag of Ukraine, the cellar dwellers of Euroleague have been playing with a different kind of fire this past couple of weeks.
When the war began, the Kaunas club hosted Real Madrid and beat them out the gate. Tonight, they had to work harder but still defeated FC Barcelona. The top two teams in Euroleague this season went to Kaunas and faced a team and arena fired up like few can be.
Lithuania’s bond with Ukraine is not as well known outside of central Europe but over the years, basketball fans have become more aware of it. Budvielnyk moving games there during the conflict in 2014 was the first hint as despite being in another country, they still drew sizeable crowds for EuroCup games.
These past few weeks it has been impossible for basketball fans not to see the bond. Zalgiris has made sure of that. Over the years, I’ve also been fortunate enough to get to know Oleksandr Proshuta, the ambassador of Ukrainian basketball journalism over those years. Oleksandr is in Kyiv but, remarkably, had a better internet connection than me for the game tonight. Good, this game was as much for him and his friends as it was for the throngs in the Zalgirio Arena.
Support for Ukraine in @bczalgiris game vs @FCBarcelona_es #SlavaUkrayini pic.twitter.com/Aoj1oFsJB4
— Paulius Cubera (@PauliusCubera) March 11, 2022
From Dublin, through Kildare, and into Laois, I would occasionally get a few seconds of the game. Zalgiris were in a hole, then level, then in a hole again. Then a really long freeze and somehow they’d gone back in front. That time, they’d stay there until the final horn.
I’ve been lucky enough to speak with Oleksandr these past few weeks for my day job. He described how he was in awe at the decision of Zalgiris to simply wear these uniforms. He has often spoken of the brotherhood he has felt from Lithuanians while at tournaments, that the best way to get drunk for free is to wear Ukrainian colours near Lithuanian fans for one.
Last week, recording the latest episode of the Euroleague Sweet 16 podcast with Aris, Lewis, and Moshe, it was Lewis who described the situation for those of us away from the war but with friends there the best. He said he used to go on Twitter looking to see what story Chema de Lucas had about a player moving. Now he, indeed we, do just to make sure our friend is still tweeting.
FC Barcelona won’t be happy they didn’t win but they can’t get too upset over who did, how they did, and why they played like they absolutely needed to. There isn’t a single Ukrainian on the Zalgiris roster but the brotherhood between these peoples meant that every one in those uniforms knew they were playing for something more than themselves.
A basketball game happened. I didn’t get to watch it, not properly, but I’m glad those that needed to most did.
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