FIBA World Cup 2023: USA go down 110-104 to Lithuania having already secured Paris 2024 berth
Lithuania went three-point crazy in the first half in Manila after the reigning Olympic champions were guaranteed one of the two Americas Olympic quota spots from this tournament.
Basketball
The United States suffered their first defeat of this 2023 FIBA World Cup on Sunday (3 September), falling 110-104 to Lithuania in Manila.
The reverse means Steve Kerr's men finish second in Group J with Group I winners Italy awaiting in the quarter-finals.
Lithuania, who received vociferous support inside the Mall of Asia Arena, retained their unbeaten record to top the group with Serbia their opponents in the knockout stage.
Defeats earlier in the day for Puerto Rico, Brazil and Dominican Republic meant the reigning men's basketball Olympic champions were guaranteed one of the two Americas spots for Paris 2024 on offer at this tournament.
Canada clinched the second, and joined their North American neighbours in the knockout stages, by beating World Cup holders Spain later on Sunday.
Kerr hails "brilliant" Lithuania
USA struggled to handle the European side's physicality early on and trailed 31-12 after the first quarter.
Lithuania were inspired with big man Jonas Valanciunas dominant on the inside as his teammates hit six three-pointers out of six in the opening 10 minutes.
The Americans managed to stop the bleeding in the second quarter, but were unable to make significant inroads into the deficit as they went into the half-time break 54-37 down.
They managed to close the gap to four in the third quarter but, despite a game-high 35 points from Anthony Edwards, were unable to gain parity with the Lithuanian fans celebrating wildly long before the final buzzer.
It was the Baltic Giants' first win over the USA since the first round at Athens 2004.
Lithuania coach Kazys Maksvytis said, “Congratulations to our team, to our fans. We started the game very well. Our guys executed our plan very well. We need to save our emotions and all efforts for our next game because just in two days we start the playoffs. We need to have short memories to prepare.”
In the post-match press conference, Kerr said, “Lithuania obviously just came out of the gates on fire. I think they made their first nine or 10 threes, took it to us. And I loved the way our guys fought back. We played much better in the second half, competed like crazy, and gave it a really good run but it wasn’t enough.
“We’re fortunate that the loss doesn’t hurt us in terms of our goal which is to win the gold medal, but it’s a great game for us to experience because this is FIBA. There are some great teams that have continuity and understand what they’re doing, execute, and I thought Lithuania was brilliant tonight and they deserved to win.”
On securing a Paris 2024 berth, he commented, “It doesn’t ease the pain of the loss that we had tonight, but for USA Basketball it’s a good thing to not have to go through any further qualifying. But, to be honest, I’m not worried about the Olympics. I’m worried about this. We want to win the World Cup and that’s our focus.”
Edwards added, "Luckily we get to play again. That’s all I’m thinking about."