FIBA World Cup 2014: Updated Championship Predictions for Team USA

The 2014 FIBA World Cup of Basketball has been a rousing success, but no group of players has been more dominant to this point than Team USA.

The United States dominated the preliminary round by going undefeated (5-0) and carried that momentum into the elimination stages, beating Mexico in the round of 16 and Slovenia in the quarterfinals.

Now, the Americans play Lithuania in the semifinals Thursday at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.

For Team USA, it’s all about finding an offensive rhythm and sticking to its style. Besides Spain, there is no team in this tournament that can defeat the Americans if they are all working hard at the same time.

The chemistry comes from the team’s starting five. With Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry working together at guard, James Harden and Kenneth Faried building off each other at forward, and Anthony Davis patrolling the center position, few teams can stand toe-to-toe with these five players.

As good as the starters are, the depth of the bench could be the team’s biggest strength. Led by Derrick Rose, the Team USA bench has been as selfless and consistent as head coach Mike Krzyzewski could have imagined.

Rose said he is more confident in his play now than he has been at any other point in the tournament, per Sekou Smith of NBA.com:

"

It eased me a little bit. Gave me a lot of confidence. I’m not lacking in confidence, but when the head coach tells you to go out there and be aggressive it makes you think in another way. Coach gave me that green light and said go out there and play the way I play. Don’t worry about getting other guys involved … I felt good.

"

Sam Amick of USA Today pointed out on Twitter that the dominance of the American players does not scare stars from other nations, though:

Lithuania and Spain shouldn’t be scared of Team USA. These nations should be saving all of the effort associated with fear and using it to come up with a game plan to stop the best team in the tournament. Spain has NBA stars Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Ricky Rubio, but it lacks the truth depth the Americans possess. 

With Klay Thompson, DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan adding even more depth behind Rose, Team USA will be able to outscore Lithuania and whoever stands in the way leading to the championship.

The United States should have no problem beating Lithuania 110-80 in the semifinals and advancing to the finals. Spain should be able to beat France on Wednesday before moving on to face the winner of Serbia vs. Brazil. Regardless of who is victorious in the aforementioned semifinals matchup, Spain has the talent to make the finals. Team USA vs. Spain is exactly what the fans want.

Despite all the talk about how well Spain has played and how talented the roster is, Team USA's constant barrage of talent will be too much, and the home nation will fall under the nonstop pressure from the Americans.

The stage is set for the World Cup to come to America.

Stats via FIBA.com.

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