Mozgov, Kirilenko star in Russian win over Valanciunas and Lithuania, 91-76

In a friendly match delayed a bit thanks to the visiting team getting caught in Moscow traffic, Team Russia defended home court against Lithuania, 91-76, in a warmup for Eurobasket 2011 – and this without former Euroleague defensive player of the year Viktor Khryapa. Those most interested in seeing past, current or future NBA stars were surely pleased with the individual results of Russia’s leading scorers Timofey Mozgov (18 points) and Andrei Kirilenko (17 points, seven rebounds) and Lithuania’s Jonas Valanciunas (chasing up his 26-point show against Czech Republic on Saturday night with a 14-point, seven-board effort) and Darius Songaila (12 points). Paulius Jankunas led Lithuania with 15 points. David Blatt had has side playing at a surprisingly quick tempo in addition to the typical high-pressure, swarming defense, and the results were scary as Russia led throughout while Mozgov and Kirilenko were only stopped in incessant penetration by trips to the line: The pair combined for ...