By Rigas Dardalis/ dardalis@eurohoops.net
USA once again was kind of sluggish in the first half, but even that couldn’t help Lithuania compete for the win. The Americans prevailed (96-68) after leading 43-35 at the end of the second quarter. Once more the third period was the best one for the winners with a partial 33-14 score that ended the game.
Klay Thompson was the best of the winners and the most consistent player, specially in the first half, on the way to 16 points. Kyrie Irving was the top scorer with 18 points and James Harden also had 16 points, however he was exposed in the defense by Mindaugas Kuzminskas who finished the game with 15 points and 9 rebounds. The losing side shot just with 30% accuracy from the field and committed 21 turnovers.
Thompson said after the game: “It was a hard first half, we had many fouls. It’s our story in that tournament to wear down our opponents and not stop in the second half”. Coach Kryzewski agreed: “It’s an honor to play against Lithuania. They are a worthy opponent. I don’t remember any other game on the bench of Team USA in which we had so many fouls. So there was adversity but we played through it and the reason for having the lead was Klay’s performance. We started fresh in the second half and Kyrie Irving was great. He was moving and he get us moving”.
As for the big upset and the Spaniards not getting to the final, coach K added: “It’s not a surprise. We think that we can be beaten, so everyone can lose a game. There’s nothing that surprise me in international basketball”. As for the final, James Harden said: “France is obviously a strong team, because they beat Spain and also Serbia is really good. We will be ready, no matter who wins tomorrow”.
At the end of the game, tension was high between the players, coach K got in the middle in order to prevent a possible fight and he joked about it in the press conference: “I am an old guy and also I am Polish. We are like brothers with Lithuanians. So I was hoping that I will not get hit”.