HOW do you beat Team USA?
Lithuania showed the Americans can be beaten and how they did it served as a reminder that basketball the Euro way puts a premium on teamwork and the methodical execution of a game-plan.
Many times, Team USA, the top contender in the FIBA World Cup 2023, had shown its vulnerability before pulling through with late rallies.
On Sunday night, though, Lithuania showed how to drill a hole into the Americans’ armor as it got away with a 110-104 win.
Here’s how the Lithuanians did it.
Near flawless 3-point shooting
Europeans are always known for their hot shooting and no other team in the tournament has shown it better against the Americans than the Lithuanians, who hit all of their nine triples in the first half.
“We didn’t play particularly well against today. They just punched us in the mouth right away and made their shots and executive (very well). I don’t think it was a case of us not being ready, it was a case of them playing the perfect first half,” acknowledged Team USA coach Steve Kerr.
Lithuania, no. 8 in the world, made 14 triples out of 25 attempts for 56 percent, compared to Team USA’s 11 of 29 for 37.9 percent.
The result was a commanding 54-37 halftime lead for Lithuania, which led by as much as 19 points twice earlier, the last at 54-35, two minutes before the halftime break.
Moving without the ball and less dribbling
From a strategic position at the pressbox, the Lithuanians were a beautiful sight—moving without the ball as if they were remotely controlled by someone, who knew exactly where to position the players. More passing and less dribbling
At one time, there was no need to pass as the ball handler just handed the the rock to an onrushing Vaidas Kariniauskas for a perfect layup. It didn’t matter even though Lithuania had fewer assists, 23-26, and more turnovers, 19-12, than the US.
Everyone’s a threat
Kariniauskas led Lithuania with 15 points, a small number compared to the USA’s leading scorer, Anthony Edwards, who had 35 points in the game. But that’s exactly what made Lithuania deadlier. Everyone was a threat that the Americans never knew where to focus their defense on.
All the Lithuanians saw action in the game and six others, aside from Kariniauskas, scored in double figures, with nine of them connecting from three.
Tomas Dimsa led with three triples to finish with 11 points, just one adrift of New Orleans Pelicans’ center Jonas Valanciunas, who had 12.
There were others that the Lithuanians did to succeed against the Americans.
They played more physicality on defense as they made the Americans bleed for almost every basket.
They made sure to dominate the rebounds, 47-23, and they used mismatches to the hilt.
The best example was against Austin Reaves, who had been alternately dominated by his Lithuanian match-ups.
As was the case in its previous four victories in the tournament, Team USA tried to mount a fourth-quarter rally, but Lithuania stood its ground and turned to the free throw line to seal the ego-boosting win as both teams head to the quarterfinals against separate opponents.
Kerr does not discount the possibility that they will meet Lithuania again.
“Great game for us to experience. Lithuania was brilliant tonight and they deserved to win. But I liked what happened. We probably need this for us to get better,” Kerr added.