FIBA World Cup 2014 Results: Tracking Semifinal Scores and Highlights
The favorites to win the gold medal, especially with Spain out of the picture, the United States kicked off the semifinals at the 2014 FIBA World Cup Thursday with a resounding win.
A trio of superstars led the way for Team USA in the 96-68 win over Lithuania, a team that now heads to the third-place game this weekend. Kyrie Irving's team will head into the final as a large favorite, as the team continues to perform more cohesively with each win.
The entertaining affair was just half of the semifinals action, though, as two shocking underdogs clash Friday when France meets Serbia to set the final in stone.
Let's take a look at how the semifinals played out in Spain.
2014 FIBA World Cup Semifinal Results
| Lithuania vs. United States | United States 96, Lithuania 68 |
| France vs. Serbia | Serbia 90, France 85 |
Full updated tournament bracket can be viewed at FIBA.com.
Serbia 90, France 85
Serbia survived a late scare to subside France's late rally, holding on with a 90-85 victory in a heated semifinal clash.
Despite brandishing a lead as high as 18 points, Serbia found itself clutching tight to a dwindled advantage after France slashed the margin to four points with two minutes left. France's offense could do no wrong in the final quarter, scoring 39 points after tallying 46 through the opening three periods.
Memories of their last meeting filled the air, as France overcame an eight-point deficit to slip past Serbia by one point on Aug. 31. A late rally yet again heightened the tension in Spain, but Serbia salvaged a win this time around.
With five minutes left, Bogdan Bogdanovic drained a three-pointer fresh off a timeout, upping the lead to seven. The Phoenix Suns' draft pick came through with 11 fourth-quarter points to help maintain a five-point win.
Although France's offense stayed hot throughout the fast-paced final quarter, Serbia found its shooting stroke and began trading buckets. NBA.com's Jon Schuhmann noted a particular string of efficient drives late in the game.
The Portland Trail Blazers' Nicolas Batum played his best game of the tournament, hammering home 35 points under an enhanced role minus Tony Parker and Joakim Noah. Boris Diaw, another NBA veteran critical to France's success, finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
France has previously knocked off Spain in front of a stunned home crowd, led by Rudy Gobert's 13 rebounds battling Serge Ibaka and Marc and Pau Gasol. Without the nation's two premier stars participating in Spain, the squad could still greatly defy expectations by defeating Lithuania in Saturday's third-place game.
For Serbia, it heads into a David vs. Goliath match looking to pull off a colossal upset.
United States 96, Lithuania 68
Mike Krzyzewski's team stormed out to an early lead and never looked back Thursday behind a Big Three of its own.
Irving scored 18 points and was flanked by James Harden and Klay Thompson, who added 16 points apiece. The team as a whole seemed to have a renewed sense of focus, shooting nearly 50 percent from the field by night's end.
The energy and focus from the United States was palpable begging from the tipoff, even though the two did not birth a great shooting start. Squarely the favorites to win the gold after shocking upsets on the other side of the bracket, Krzyzewski’s comments before the game made even more sense, per The Associated Press, via Fox Sports:
"To the basketball people of the world, this is the event. Remember, the Olympics is every sport, so you've got a bunch of people who are excited about swimming, track, all the events, and you put them together and it creates this spectacle that basketball is a part of.
Basketball's not a part of this event. Basketball is the event and there's a big difference and we've learned that.
"
Thompson was the most notable player on the day for the United States, which jumped out to an early 21-16 advantage in the first frame and heated up in the second half. As the NBA's Twitter account noted early on, the Golden State Warriors star has upped his game as of late:
Throughout the first half, there were brief flirtations with upset vibes, as Team USA members such as Steph Curry got themselves into foul trouble, testing the depth of Krzyzewski’s bench.
It was Thompson who answered the call each and every time. His reliable sparks on 7-of-12 shooting kept the Lithuanian side at bay the entire night. As the AP's Brian Mahoney muses, Thompson may have solidified himself as the team's most important player moving forward:
Lithuania did not go down without a fight, though, and took full advantage of Team USA's foul trouble by attempting 42 shots from the charity stripe, missing only 10. Still, that proved to be the main source of production the entire night.
Star big man Jonas Valanciunas wound up attempting just four field goals and finished with 15 points. Adas Juskevicius went 1-of-8 from the field with 12 points. The side's best player turned out to be Mindaugas Kuzminskas, who shot 6-of-9 from the field with 15 points, nine boards and two blocks.
Thanks to a reduction in fouls, Team USA ended the game with a decisive third frame that saw Thompson and Co. score 33 points to Lithuania's 14.
As Josh Newman of SNYNets.com notes, Krzyzewski will not see enough credit thrown his direction for slowly but surely taking the young, erratic clay that is this Team USA roster and molding it into a gold-medal favorite as it sliced its way through the bracket:
This particular team, sans some of the greats such as Kevin Durant, has grown dramatically under the watchful eye of the globe over the course of the tournament.
All that remains is for Krzyzewski to keep the young roster grounded. While his team dodged the bullet that was Spain, either one of Friday's semifinals participants has the firepower to hang around if they do not come out and at least match Thursday's energy.
