It was his first game in European competitions in Lithuanian soil since 2020, and Deividas Sirvydis made sure he was ready to showcase what he can do on a basketball court.
Sirvydis is back home to lead Lietkabelis
Sirvydis led 7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys to an 84-74 home win against Aris Midea Thessaloniki, finishing the game with 21 points in almost 34 minutes. At age 23, Sirvydis is a young veteran ready to make the most out of the extended playing time and the leading role that Lietkabelis head coach Roberts Stelmahers is giving him.
He is the son of Virginijus Sirvydis, who played professional basketball in Lithuania, Russia, Germany, Cyprus and the Czech Republic. Deividas Sirvydis grew up in all of these countries and picked up basketball at age 7. He grew up with Rytas Vilnius and became a star in the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament (ANGT). In 2018, he led U18 Rytas to the ANGT title in Belgrade, Serbia. He had 16 points, 3 rebounds and a PIR of 15 in a 55-76 over U18 Stellazzurra Rome in the championship game. Sirvydis was chosen as the tournament's MVP.
Slowly but steadily, Sirvydis started to see playing time in Rytas's first team, taking part in three EuroCup seasons from 2017 to 2020. In the 2019-20 campaign, he averaged 6.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 16 EuroCup games. After a brief stint with Hapoel Jerusalem, Sirvydis signed a deal with Detroit of the NBA, and went on to play halfway between the NBA and the G League until he signed a contract with Lietkabelis this summer.
Lietkabelis fixed its problems in the second half, cutting turnovers to just 6 after the break. The hosts rebounded even better at both ends, too. Lietkabelis pulled down 10 offensive rebounds after the break, getting almost as many defensive boards (14) as Aris. The guests were able to pull just 5 more offensive boards after halftime, 25% of all rebounds under Lietkabelis's basket. The hosts ended up burying 11 of 25 three-pointers (44.0% 3FG) on the night. Aris took more three-point shots, 28, but hit just 7 of them (25%).
Back in Europe after a three-year break, Sirvydis returned to European competitions last week but did not have his best performance. He made only 1 of 9 three-point attempts on his way to 8 points, adding 7 rebounds for a PIR of 3. Back in his home country on Tuesday, however, Sirvydis had a very different performance, full of confidence, asking for the ball to play one-on-one, going to foul line often and being very aggressive at both ends.
Lietkabelis opted to put together a team with deep roots in its basketball-crazy country, with only two foreigns: Nikola Popovic and Alen Hadzibegovic. Sirvydis is living up to the expectations as one of the team's leaders, along with Gediminas Orelik and Vytenis Lipkevicius, all of them Lithuanian. After playing basketball in different countries as a kid and a professional player, it is time for Sirvydis to take over in Lithuania.