Olympic Basketball TV Schedule: When and Where to Watch USA vs. Lithuania
Those that watched Team USA embarrass Nigeria on TV Thursday know there isn’t an Olympic basketball squad that wants to see “USA” on its schedule right now.
Not-so-bold claim of the 2012 London Summer Olympics: the U.S. is the most feared squad alive. The Americans crushed the Nigerians’ pride annihilating them by the score of 156-73. A Lithuanian player or two may or may not have cried while watching film in preparation for their showdown with the U.S. this weekend.
Watch Team USA take on Lithuania on Saturday, August 4 at 9:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN, NBC Basketball Network Saturday or online at NBCOlympics.com.
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Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reported that coach Mike Krzyzewski raved about his club’s scoring effort after its route of Nigeria. He said:
"Obviously, we shot better than any team in a game that I've ever coached. Our guys couldn't miss tonight. They shared the ball. When you hit 29 threes, it's very difficult to lose in a game like that.
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Kobe Bryant added (via USA Today):
"When you have guys individually on their respective teams get hot, it's a big problem. When you have all of us on one team and we all get hot on the same night, it's tough."
So tough that, according to Bovada, Team USA is 35-point favorites against Lithuania.
The Lithuanians are 1-2 right now with their only win coming against, guess who: Nigeria. They were beat down by 23 to Argentina and most recently lost to France, but only by eight. Lithuania was actually leading at halftime, too.
Double-digit scoring efforts by Linas Kleiza, Martynas Pocius and Simas Jasaitis sparked their near-victory. What killed them, though, was getting outworked on the glass 38-29. And in order to upset the U.S., a team is going to have to take advantage of its one weakness: length.
Lithuania doesn’t have the frontcourt talent to threaten the Americans, so they better brace themselves for a beat down.
David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.
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