USA Basketball finally dug itself an early hole that it couldn’t escape.
Plagued by slow starts throughout the FIBA World Cup, the Americans suffered their first defeat of the summer Sunday when a hot-shooting Lithuanian team took control in the opening minutes and never looked back.
Lithuania defeated the United States, 110-104, at Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippines, dropping the Americans to 4-1 in the group stage. The emphatic result sent Lithuania (5-0) into the quarterfinals as Group J’s No. 1 seed and left USA Basketball as the No. 2 seed out of the group.
Entering Sunday, Coach Steve Kerr had guided USA Basketball to a 9-0 record in pretournament exhibitions and World Cup group games this summer. However, his inexperienced roster had repeatedly faced first-half deficits, including in what became blowout wins over New Zealand and Greece. That led Kerr to shake up his starting lineup by inserting Josh Hart in favor of Brandon Ingram before a group-stage win over Jordan.
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But that new-and-improved lineup was no match early for Lithuania, which led by 21 points early in the second quarter and held a 54-37 lead at halftime. Lithuania’s shooters went 9 for 9 on three-pointers to start the game, while the Americans struggled to find their rhythm and leaned heavily on Anthony Edwards for their first-half offense. Jaren Jackson Jr., the team’s defensive anchor, picked up his third foul midway through the second quarter, opening the paint for Lithuanian center Jonas Valanciunas.
“Lithuania obviously just came out of the gates on fire,” Kerr said. “I thought Lithuania was brilliant tonight and they deserved to win. We were on our heels for the whole first half. They were carving us up.”
Sensing the precarious situation, the Americans stormed out of halftime with a 9-0 run and cut Lithuania’s lead to six by the end of the third quarter. Lithuania Coach Kazys Maksvytis was assessed a technical foul after Valanciunas was whistled for two fouls in quick succession during the run, but the Americans never succeeded in breaking their opponents’ composure.
Despite Valanciunas’s foul trouble, Lithuania staved off an American rally in the fourth quarter. Baskets by Tyrese Haliburton, Brandon Ingram and Jalen Brunson cut the lead to four with under five minutes remaining, but Mindaugas Kuzminskas responded with a backbreaking three-pointer over Edwards as the shot clock expired to give Lithuania some much-needed breathing room.
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Kuzminskas and Margiris Normantas each hit a pair of free throws in the final minute to ice Lithuania’s first win over USA Basketball since the 2004 Olympics. Seven Lithuanian players finished in double figures, led by Vaidas Kariniauskas, who tallied 15 points. The Lithuanians, who advanced to face Serbia in the quarterfinals, shot 14 for 25 (56 percent) on three-pointers and outrebounded the Americans 43-27.
Edwards, who finished with a game-high 35 points on 14-for-26 shooting, led a frantic effort to close the gap in the closing minutes. Mikal Bridges had a chance to cut Lithuania’s lead to one in the final 15 seconds, but his corner three-point attempt rimmed off. Bridges and Brunson finished with 14 points apiece in the loss.
Nevertheless, the Americans advanced to the FIBA World Cup’s knockout round, in which they will face Italy on Tuesday. With a win over Italy, which posted a 4-1 record as Group I’s top seed, USA Basketball would face Germany or Latvia in the semifinals for a chance to reach the gold medal game Sept. 10. An American loss to Italy would mean elimination.
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“Luckily, we get to play again,” Edwards said. “That’s all I’m thinking about. On to the next one. They beat us fair and square.”
Though it amounted to a footnote given the sting of the loss to Lithuania, the program on Sunday also clinched a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“We’re fortunate that the loss doesn’t hurt us in terms of our goal, which is to win the gold medal,” Kerr said. “It’s a great game for us to experience. I hate losing. I probably won’t sleep much tonight. But we needed to feel this. … We can’t ease into the game at all. I’m hoping this is a lesson.”
Lithuania, which won bronze medals at the Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000, is seeking its first FIBA World Cup medal since it claimed bronze in 2010. In addition to Valanciunas, the New Orleans Pelicans center who is entering his 12th NBA season, Lithuania’s roster includes former NBA players Donatas Motiejunas, Deividas Sirvydis and Ignas Brazdeikis.
“We won one of the biggest wins of our career, but we don’t have time to celebrate this,” Maksvytis said. “Serbia is waiting for us, and they’re not waiting with flowers and a red carpet.”
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