Lithuania beat the Americans, 110-104, behind a shocking first-half display of size and 3-point prowess at the FIBA World Cup.
Both teams had already qualified for the quarterfinals, which start Tuesday, and with losses on Sunday by the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Brazil, the U.S. had also punched its ticket to the 2024 Olympics in Paris long before Sunday’s game was over.So in the grand scheme, this was little more than just a scratch on the hood for the Americans. But they’d better make sure the motor is running smoothly by their quarterfinal matchup with Italy. From now on, a loss is a knockout blow.
There was another silver lining for Team USA on Sunday in that it recovered from a first half in which it appeared this would be a game of infamy. If the most lopsided loss in program history, or at least since the Americans started usingplayers in 1992, was a 19-point loss to Puerto Rico at the 2004 Olympics, well, the Lithuanians led this one by 21 points in the second quarter.
The USA returned to respectability with a 13-0 run in the third quarter, but two backbreaking buckets by Mindaugas Kuzminskas twice stunted the Americans’ rhythm. The first came at the buzzer to end the third quarter, after a brilliant defensive possession for the Americans, when he put back an errant shot for a six-point lead. And then, with less than four minutes left and the shot clock expiring, he buried a desperation 3 with a hand in his face to put the Lithuanians ahead 94-85.
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