By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
It’s semifinals time and Team USA is just two games away from the Gold. With Spain out, after the big upset by France, in theory no one has the tools to stop the Americans, however Lithuania has one thing, that no other team had so far against the players of coach K: a deep, big front line.
Barcelona: USA – Lithuania (21.00)
Lithuania has four great front line players in Valanciunas, Motiejunas and Lavrinovich brothers, but not a back court that can compete with the loaded roster of USA in the perimeter. So, it would be really hard for coach Kazlauskas to find ways to stay competitive, when his team has already a bad assists/turnover ratio (12.7/14.7) and on the contrary to the usual Lithuanian style of play, his team doesn’t get points in transition (just 4.7 ppg so far).
That’s why we expect from Lithuania to try the only sensible thing to do. Force a slow, half court game in which the front line will give the Lithuanians an edge. The tempo is the key for this match up, specially if Lithuanians make again their outside shots like they did against Turkey. That been said, USA has 13.7 steals per game so far and no back court, not even the Dragic brothers, could handle their pressure until now.
It’s no news that USA is the favorite. The question is if there’s room for one more upset in this World Cup in the semifinals and the final. Ηere’s the videos of the two teams official press conferences