Team USA Batters Old Rival

It’s a pretty common story. Team USA meets opponent, Team USA plays opponent, Team USA wins by more than 30 and goes home.

That was essentially the script for Friday’s game between the US and old nemesis Lithuania.

The Americans jumped out to a big lead early and were only slightly threatened when Lithuania cut the deficit to single digits in the third quarter. Strong defense, however, carried the day as the US defense supplied consistent pressure throughout the game.

The Lithuanians were a thorn in the side of the US in 2004 when they beat the Americans in pool play en route to a 5-0 record in the same pool as the US. The North Americans, however, got revenge with a 104-96 win in the consolation game, denying Lithuania its fourth bronze medal in as many Olympics.

Since that tournament the Lithuanians have finished seventh in the 2006 world basketball championships but rebounded nicely, earning third place in Eurobasket2007 and securing an Olympic berth. In its pre-Olympic exhibitions, Lithuania beat highly ranked Argentina but lost to Spain.

As for Friday’s game, the Lithuanians are certainly not a bad group, but the US just about ran them out of the gym.

They have an impressive arsenal of players including two good post players, the Lavrinovic brothers, a good post defender in Robertas Javtokas, a stable of wings including Euroleague MVP Ramunas Siskauskas, and two good point guards in Rimantas Kaukėnas (scored 17 on Friday) and Šarūnas Jasikevičius, who has anchored this team for a long time.

Despite the formidable lineup, Team USA keyed on one of the major weaknesses of Lithuania: ball-handling. Jasikevičius is a good floor general but he is at his best when surrounded by other competent ball-handlers. (There were at least three others on his 2004 and 2005 Euroleague title teams.)

He was hounded into a 25 percent shooting day and gave the ball away three times.

Overall the Americans won the turnover battle 23-11 and shot 23 percent more than the Lithuanians. The only way Lithuania stayed in the game was by hitting 12 of their 22 three-point attempts.

From this game some important trends have started to develop. It became quite clear that Coach K wants to win by disrupting opposing offenses and running off turnovers.

US teams of the past tried to jump passing lanes for steals, but this squad seems to be throwing their size and strength around, knocking off opponent’s timing and cuts.

They stayed in man-to-man defense for most of the game though there was a little 2-3 zone near the end of the game.

The contrast between the teams' offenses was sharp, but not in the bad way as in the 2004 games.

The Lithuanians tended to use baseline screens to open up players on the wing, well executed screen-and-rolls, and relied on more patterned plays. The US was playing more on feel than anything else, but that can be attributed to the 2-3 zone which Lithuania employed throughout the game.

The American players did not fall into old bad habits of trying to attack the rim and posting up players. Instead they opted for a more patient flow to the game.

They probed and stretched the defense, looking for drive and kick opportunities. They also used skip passes to move the defense laterally and get open three-pointers.

The most encouraging sign US players showed was a willingness to move without the ball.

Time after time, Americans would float to open spots on the perimeter for jumpers or cut along the baseline when their teammate's drive occupied the attention of the Lithuanian centers.

The US offense overall was more reactive, patiently finding holes in the defense rather than forcing the action and playing into the hands of the zone defense.

A factor that helped the US was that they won more of the battles for loose balls with hustle and speed. Indeed the only time Lithuania threatened was when they started corralling loose balls.

Coach K has also embraced the size factors that are part of the European game. Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, and Carlos Boozer are the centers on this team and yesterday only one was on the floor at any given time.

This means that LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are the primary power forwards, a more versatile pair and ideal for this style of play.

The centers, furthermore, are really going to hold the roles of rebounders, defenders, and finishers. Boozer and Bosh both have good jump shots but seemed more inclined to work as complements to the guards and wings.

Adding Michael Redd to the team was a stroke of genius since he has a feel for getting to the soft spots in zones. And Wade, whose drive and shoot free-throws game should struggle in international play, did a great job picking his spots and hitting open three-pointers.

The only thing the US needs to work on is to stop throwing foolish ally-oop passes. When Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler use it in New Orleans, they do it because it causes problems for the D. Team USA seems to be doing it for show, a move that could backfire against better teams.

The US should have few worries if these teams meet again. From this game it was clear that Lithuania’s stars of four years ago are growing a bit long in the tooth. The only way Lithuania topples the US is if the Americans have an excessively sloppy game and the Lithuanians execute their offense to perfection and hit most of their shots.

Up next for Team USA is a Russian team that won the Eurobasket tournament over Spain last year. The Russian squad is well coached and is one of the few teams that could give the US trouble.

Check back Sunday for a look at the Russia game and an analysis of the field facing Team USA.