Gold-bearing USA conceded their first defeat at the Basketball World Cup and gambled away their group victory in the intermediate round. Head coach Steve Kerr’s team lost 104:110 (37:54) against medal contenders Lithuania in Manila on Sunday to sit second in the group. It was worse for world champions Spain, who lost 85-88 to Canada and were surprisingly eliminated.
The Olympic champion’s best thrower was Anthony Edwards with 35 points. Vaitas Kariniaskas led the way with 14 points and Jonas Valanciunas with twelve points for the Lithuanians, who shined especially in the first half. The USA will face Italy in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Lithuania must deal with Serbia.
The US had previously won all nine games this summer. Sunday’s narrow 99:91 win against the German team in Abu Dhabi. The US team has twelve NBA players as usual, but will have to do without big names like Kevin Durant, James Harden and Stephen Curry. Instead, Kerr is building a diverse team around winger Edwards with a wealth of talent.
The USA will face Italy in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Lithuania will face Serbia, Canada will face Slovenia and Germany will face Latvia.
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