Speaking to Olympics.com, the managing director of USA Basketball's men's team said obtaining a quota spot for Paris 2024 Olympics was "the good news" on an otherwise disappointing day.
(2023 Getty Images)
There is an air of mixed feelings following USA Basketball's 104-110 loss to Lithuania at the 2023 FIBA World Cup yesterday (3 August).
On the one hand, the pre-tournament favourites are quarter-final bound and have obtained a team quota spot for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
On the other, their perfect summer record is now blemished and their confidence knocked with Lithuania delivering a team performance for the ages to rout the 12 NBA-player squad.
Speaking to Olympics.com, team managing director Grant Hill shared his relief and anguish following the result.
"First of all, any time you qualify, it's a big, big, big accomplishment. And it's not an easy thing to do. There's a lot of good teams from our region, candidates, so, you know a silver lining, or at least the good news, I guess, out of last night is that.
"There's disappointment right now and we all don't like to lose."
He continued: "But, you know we're playing tomorrow. We're playing in the quarters. And sometimes you got to go through a little bit of it first.
"I think that the '21 [team], they lost in the first game to France in the Olympics [in Tokyo]. It's supposed to be hard and losing is hard. And we'll see, we'll see how we bounce back."
Though it might be tempting to turn to the positives and the Olympic future now ahead, Hill stressed that US' focus is very much on the present and ensuring that the team learn their lessons from yesterday's loss.
"Our focus is on tomorrow and what we can learn from last night, how can we get better today and how can we come out and have a better performance tomorrow.
"You got to stay in the moment. And right now we're in a moment. It's a hard moment, but it's a necessary moment to hopefully reach the goals that we've set out for ourselves."