THE SIDELINES : Lithuanian Boycott Hurts Soviet Team’s Chances Against U.S.

Tonight’s basketball summit between Olympic superpowers from the United States and the Soviet Union just goes to show that the work of the Goodwill Games is never done. Created to end boycotts in 1986, this Ted Turner-inspired competition now has a boycott of its own, with the heart of the Soviet gold-medal team ripped out because four players from the Baltic republic of Lithuania have declined to play.

In 1988, when the Soviets bounced the U.S. team out of the Seoul Games, 82-76, 62 of those U.S.S.R. points were scored by the four Lithuanians--Arvidas Sabonis, Sarunas Marciulionis, Rimas Kurtinaitis and Valdemaras Khomichus. But since Lithuania declared independence from Moscow in March, Lithuanian sports leaders have pulled two of their best basketball teams out of the Soviet leagues and have pressured Lithuanian athletes, in all sports, not to wear the Soviet colors in international competition.

There are four or five Lithuanians competing in the Goodwill Games, among the 420 Soviet athletes entered in the 17-day, 21-sport event, Soviet sports minister Nicolai Rusak said. But none of them is in basketball.

Monday,the Lithuanian-less Soviets bumbled around against Italy, surviving for an 88-85 win only when Italian Riccardo Morandotti’s three-point shot at the buzzer bounced off the back rim. “I think,” said Soviet Coach Vladas Garastas, himself a Lithuanian, “that if the Lithuanian players were here, they would be helping us much.”