I think USA lost on purpose ..they are trying to avoid Canada .They will play Italy, Lithuania - Serbia
USA players can't box out .. Lithuania nicely exploited the lack of size of Team USA on switches and rolls to the basket . Not enough Cam Johnson in this game I'd say . BI lack of defense for someone with his size and length is EMBARASSING
And Canada could be eliminated today if they lose to Spain. It's always complicated with FIBA brackets
Quarter finals: USA -Italy Slovenia-Canada Germany -Latvia, Serbia -Lithuania. USA- Canada only could play in finals
Maybe we really should stop referring to them as “world champs “ now that somebody is better than them .
Canada shooting guard Shay Gilges-Alexander scored 30 points (7 of 12 from the field, 14 of 16 from the free throw), had 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Dillon Brooks added 22 points and 5 rebounds, RJ Barrett added 16 points and 5 rebounds. Looks like SGA will get MVP regardless of results.And Canada just qualified for Olympics
It's from Bleacher report. As much as Sunday was a setback for the United States, the draw couldn't have fallen much better for the Americans. Italy is a more favorable matchup than Serbia, while two of the strongest countries remaining (Canada and Slovenia) cross paths on the other side of the bracket. Team USA played Germany in its final tune-up before the World Cup and came away with a hard-fought 99-91 win. The Germans could certainly end the United States' gold medal quest in the semis. You trust Kerr and his coaching staff to iron out some of the flaws from Sunday and make the most of Team USA's overall talent advantage against Germany in a hypothetical matchup. FIBA World Cup Title Odds United States (-125) Canada (+450) Germany (+700) Serbia (+800) Lithuania (+1800) Slovenia (+2000) Italy (+3500) Latvia (+7000)
Not over yet ****head. Plus they still fought back to a respectable margin of loss and won quarters 2 and 3 and tied 4th .... after Lithuania shooters went Denver / HAM from deep with 9 for 9 in 1st. Plenty of talent on the team, but I had wondered at the outset if they were big enough in the front court. Don't know who else of quality for a 5 was available and could have been chosen. As others have said a LOT of the NBA's superstars are now playing for other countries or are too old to want to risk it.
Have not watched the game yet and will, but from reading about his foul trouble and actually fouling out, plus the few highlights I've seen, it looked like he was again tasked with trying to guard guys much bigger and heavier who had some post game in their bag?
Or maybe the Lith team told them “ cm on guys let us win, you are already in the playoffs “ or the tournament. I am sorry I don’t really follow WC basketball much .
Neither am I especially at time when games are playing. Just watched highlights from ESPN. But controversy with FiBA brackets are well documented for a very long time
Arenas has the worst takes .. In what world Booker is between the 13th best and 24th best American player and Butler between the 25th best and 36 th player ? They both belong in the top 12 . This game showed the current NBA isn't as great as some say . B-ball ain't only about scoring 1 on 1 and jacking up three pointers . Passing , defense and rebounding are key elements to the game . JJJ who is a better defender than AD according to the medias couldn't guard Jonas and grab a rebound
Yes , Austin played a lot vs Kuzminskas who is like 6-9 or 6-10 and he a few years ago played in NBA for the Knicks. And team USA was out rebounded by 16 , especially on offensive boards.
if i had watched the us let their guards defend the post without help in the earlier games, i'd have done this, too. i wasn't impressed with our defense in the parts of games i watched, and it looked like it bit us in this one. i'd probably wager we mop the floor with lithuania if we see them again, though.
