USA vs. Lithuania: FIBA World Cup 2014 Semifinal Score and Twitter Reaction
A day after co-favorite Spain was sent packing in one of the biggest upsets in recent international basketball history, the United States sent a loud and decisive statement that it would not share the same fate.
Kyrie Irving scored 18 points, and Klay Thompson and James Harden each scored 16 as the United States survived a barrage of early fouls and some shaky shooting to earn a 96-68 victory over Lithuania to advance to the FIBA World Cup final.
Starters Kenneth Faried, Harden and Stephen Curry each battled through frustrating foul trouble, especially in an up-and-down first half. The starting trio each picked up two fouls within the first four minutes, creating tension between coach Mike Krzyzewski and the officiating crew that lingered throughout the game.
However, the United States had enough firepower to push through.
Thompson scored 14 points in the first half, propping up a dreadful 9-of-35 effort from teammates that had the U.S. going into the halftime break ahead only 43-35. The Golden State Warriors star, who spent most of his summer as the subject of trade rumors, has been nothing short of spectacular in Spain. He's averaged 17 points per game in elimination-round play while being one of Krzyzewski's most reliable perimeter defenders.
Derrick Rose, meanwhile, continued to struggle with his shot. He missed his first seven field-goal attempts and accounted for half of Team USA's six first-half turnovers. But Thompson, Rudy Gay and a feisty DeMarcus Cousins all did their part to hold the fort while a majority of the United States' best players waited around on the bench.
That was particularly the case defensively, as Lithuania was not able to take advantage of its foul disparity. The Lithuanian starting lineup made only two field goals the entire half and shot 30.4 percent as a team, with NBAers Jonas Valanciunas and Donatas Motiejunas virtually invisible.
Valanciunas wound up with 15 points and seven rebounds, but his team nearly scored more points from free throws (32) than field goals (36).
Free from foul trouble (save for Curry), the U.S. entered the second half with a full lineup. It took roughly two minutes for the game to be put away for good.
The United States opened with a 10-0 run that eventually stretched to 18-2, holding Lithuania without a field goal for almost five minutes. Ratcheting up the defensive pressure and getting out in transition, the U.S. shot 14-of-19 for the quarter to make the fourth-quarter result academic.
In many ways, it mirrored how the U.S. has played the entire tournament: its first half littered with bone-headed plays, poor shooting and a preponderance of defensive miscues—its second half showcasing feats of excellence from some of the world's best basketball players.
Irving missed six of his eight shots in the first half, struggling to adequately run the attack despite not being in foul trouble. He went 6-of-7 and added four assists in the final 20 minutes.
Same goes for Harden, who entered halftime without a point and left with 16. While his defense remains a weakness that might have come back to haunt the U.S. had it gone against Spain, Harden scored all of his points as the catalyst to the Americans' third-quarter run. He has scored in double figures in seven of eight games thus far.
Faried largely made up for time lost in the first half despite shooting 3-of-8 from the field overall. He finished with nine points, six rebounds and three assists, continuing his trend of overwhelming opposing frontcourts with his athleticism and tenacity. The Denver Nuggets forward, who has garnered some level of tournament MVP buzz, says his focus remains intently on earning a gold medal.
"I'm not worried about that," Faried said before the semifinals, per FIBA. "I'm just worried about getting the gold. I just want to win and go home with this gold medal on my neck."
The most surprisingly quiet (albeit still effective) game of the evening went to Anthony Davis. Arguably ahead of Thompson and Faried in a theoretical tournament MVP race, Davis put up eight points and six rebounds and played limited minutes due to foul trouble. He fouled out with a little more than five minutes remaining, but not before Coach K got one more critical run in with his starters.
Despite holding a 27-point lead going into the fourth, Krzyzewski reinserted the starting five to get them back into a rhythm of playing together—almost like a practice within a live game. He had mostly avoided keeping starters in the game late in blowouts previously, but perhaps he wanted to get his guys re-acclimated to playing in fourth quarters.
Curry wound up getting into a bit of a rhythm late to score 13 points. Cousins, who fouled out late, had seven points and six rebounds.
The United States will play the winner of Friday's other semifinal between France and Serbia.
The respective third- and fourth-ranked teams in Group A, the French and Serbians both sent messages of their own in the quarterfinals. Serbia overwhelmed a Brazil team expected to make the medal round, exhibiting top-notch defense and shooting brilliantly in an 84-56 win. France presented Lithuania with the blueprint of an upset, taking advantage of an obviously on-tilt Spain to pull away late for a shocker.
Which team ultimately goes head-to-head with the U.S. on Sunday is anyone's guess. France defeated Serbia by one point in their group matchup, but Serbia came out ahead a year ago at Eurobasket.
"We're confident in ourselves. We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know where the chips may fall, but we're confident in each other. We're confident in ourselves," Faried said, per FIBA. "God willing, we will win the tournament and go home with a gold. But, if not, as long as we put our best effort forth and our best foot forth, then we got to live with the results."
Odds are, the result will be favorable for the United States. Spain's loss took out the only team capable of playing on its stratosphere. France is a fine team that deserves credit for pulling off Wednesday's upset, but it came against a Spanish side that consistently shot itself in the foot and collapsed under the pressure of the home crowd. Serbia lost to all three of the top teams in Group A.
KC Johnson of the Chicago Tribune provides Faried's thoughts on Spain's loss:
Sunday should be more of the same for Team USA. It should be a blowout win over an inferior team. But Spain's loss put everything in perspective; anything can happen in a one-and-done format. It'll be interesting to see if the U.S. can avoid that fate.
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