Olympics men's basketball: USA 99 - Lithuania 94 - as it happened (2024)

There were questions about this team, about who would take over the game if and when they ever got into trouble. It seems like that answer, unsurprisingly considering he's the reigning MVP and the NBA Finals MVP, is LeBron James who took at the end of the game. If he wants to be known as the best basketball player in the world, well the Olympics are the best place to prove it. He certainly passed his first real test today.

Reader Tautvydas Žakas will get the last word: "About translation. The one you posted was more then nonsense..
The right translation is "Ar tiki stebuklais? TAIP!"
Unfortunately it didn't happened today.. :/"

It didn't, but you have to be proud of how Lithuania played.

So that will do it from us for today. Next up for the US men's basketball team? That will be the dangerous Argentina on Monday, August t 5:15pm EST (10:15 BST). Thanks everyone for keeping up with us this morning (or afternoon or evening, wherever you are), we'll see you then. Ciao

USA are now trying to burn out the clock. Chris Paul misses a two pointer but Kobe is able to get it back. LeBron makes a jumper. The fourth quarter concerns are quite in the past for him I'd say.

And a 10-2 USA run (including a Deron Williams three-pointer) makes it very clear: They're not going to let Lithuania win this one.

Time out: Lithuania

LeBron James has had enough he hits a three-pointer and then slams another dunk down that practically screams "Alright, fun time is over guys, time to go to bed!'

On "Do you believe in miracles":

And Deron Williams hits makes a layup, without a doubt the most important basket for the US so far in the Olympics.

Durant hits a two pointer which Jankuna answers on the Lithuanian side.

Kleiza hits a three pointer! Lithuania has the lead!

Russell Westbrook can't get into beat mode if he's getting blocked by Lithuania, which is how the last quarter starts. Durant steals and gets the ball to Carmelo Anthony who gets a 15 feet fade-away for the first points of the fourth.

Oh, and just in case of emergency, does anyone know how they say "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" in Lithuania?

A Pocius reverse layup puts Lithuania into two. Love's three pointer misses, but Carmelo Anthony gets a five foor jumper to extend the USA's tenuous lead. Deron Williams gets the final shot and he lays it in to make it a six point lead as, as broadcaster Sean Grande would say, "we make the turn towards home."

Kevin Love gets on the free throw line and hits them both. Love has been doing everything during these preliminaries. I wouldn't be surprised if he still plays major minutes during the knockout rounds.

Carmelo Anthony misses another three pointer, wasn't it just two days ago that it seemed like he'd never miss another one like ever again?

Russell Westbrook does what Russell Westbrook does, pummeling his way to the line to get the basket and the foul. He, of course, hits the free throw. Russell Westbrook - Beast Mode time?

Carmelo Anthony makes free throws on his end, but Seibutis answers with free throws of his own.

You know what, I kinda missed the early games without all of this fouling going on.

Antanas Kavaliauskas and Renaldas Seibutis make jumpers, and then Jankunas ties the game up with a thunderous slam.

And it's a tie game! And I'm being sincere here!

Kevin Durant makes two free throws and then it's LeBron James turn to the free throw line, also getting some hoots and calls, haven't they heard it's no longer cool to hate LeBron now that he has a ring? The King makes one of two himself.

A foul on Lithuania puts them over the limit, the US will have free throws for the rest of the game. Normally I'd say "no big deal", but this one has the possibility of actually being a game late. Durant makes a free throw to push the USA lead to four.

A Jasikevicius three brings Lithuania closer. Kobe gets on to the free throw line to some fairly loud derisive noise (which is kinda amusing for a Boston fan). He makes one of two.

Lithuania commits a wise foul on Tyson Chandler to make him earn his points on the line rather than allowing an easy bucket. Chandler's not the best free throw shooter, and predictably he misses the first but he gets the second.

Okay, Lithuania is looking good out from the timeout as Martynas Pocius breaks from Kobe to make a jumper.

But the lead does not lead long as Kevin Durant and LeBron James do what they do, combining for a 7-0 run.

Lithuania takes a wise timeout. If they can't stop the US now they'll have no chance to win this game.

Jonas Valanciunas makes the first shot of the second half, cutting the USA lead down to 2. This could get tricky. Chris Paul can't connect with a three. Then Sarunas Jasikevicius's three pointer gets Lithuania, yes, Lithuania has the lead.

So, anyone betting on Lithuania?

This would be the perfect time to mention that Graham Parker liveblogged the US women's soccer team's 2-0 win against New Zealand yesterday.

Also I should add that if you have questions, comments or joke about today's Olympic basketball action while this blog is going on you can email hunter.felt.freelance@guardiannews.com or tweet @HunterFelt.

We have a close game ladies and gentlemen! Can Lithuania keep this up? I doubt it, but let's see. Certainly Team USA is going to actually have to play defense, which they didn't really have to do against Nigeria. Expect Lithuania's scoring to drop considerably in the third quarter.

Chris Paul comes out of the timeout with a three pointer that doesn't bank in. Probably would have been nothing but net two days ago. Linas Kleiza makes a free throw, LeBron James bricks his two and, after a Russell Westbrook steal, Deron Williams gets a chance for the final shot. He takes a three and... Nope.

Martynas Pocius makes a layup for Lithuania and then Darren Williams misses two free throws. Nothing like that ever happened in the Nigerian game that I can remember.

An email from James Smith: "Carmelo Anthony sucks? Who the hell wrote that? Lets see you guys play any better!"

Here's where I should warn readers that I may sometimes be sarcastic.

Kobe steals the ball away from Lithuania and hands it over to Carmelo who unleashes a tremendous one-handed layup. The US still haven't quite broken away from Lithuania though.

Paulius Jankunas is basically acting as Lithuania's offense right now with their last five points: Two baskets and a free throw.

Team USA is getting into foul trouble, while Lithuania has spread its seven fouls on seven players. Pretty sneaky that.

It's okay Kevin Durant can still hit his three point shots, countering a two pointer tipped in by Darius Songaila.

Carmelo Anthony opens up the second quarter by... missing a three? Never mind, this guy sucks.

After Lithuania's Rimantas Kaukenas hits two free throws, Deron Williams, feeling the Guardian article picture mojo that helped Russell Westbrook last game, hits a three pointer in the game's final minute. Team USA gives Carmelo Anthony the ball for the last shot, because seriously who would you rather go to right now, and he makes a three pointer because what else could possibly happen?

He already has 10 points for the night. Maybe 'Melo wants to defeat his old record?

Sarunas Jasikevicius who might be Lithuania's quasi-secret weapon hits a two pointer to get his team close and Kleiza makes two free throws after a Kevin Love jumper.

Renaldas Seibutis hits a three pointer for Lithuania, but Carmelo Anthony (remember him) answers with a three of his own. He can do that, y'know. And then Kevin Durant adds a three of his own. Uh oh, Lithuania does not want them to start to go on one of those rolls.

Russell Westbrook immediately picks up a foul too, this is looking like a repeat from the game against France. Tyson Chandler gets knocked trying to get to the basket and goes to the line for free throws which he misses.

This is going to be a much more physical game than the ones we've seen so far.

Kobe Bryant already has two fouls, that's something youl'll rarely see in the USA. He does get a fouled at the three point line and banks in three free throws before being relieved by Russell Westbrook.

Well this happened fast didn't it. Linas Kleiz gets the first basket for Lithuania while Chris Paul gets the first basket of the game for the USA.

After demolishing Nigeria to the tune of 156-73, don't expect the USA men's basketball team (3-0) to break any more records today against Lithuania, mostly because I think there are none left to break. The big news was that Team USA set a new record for most points scored in an Olympic basketball game. They also set a new US Olympic record for made three-pointers in a game by making a whopping 29 of them. Carmelo Anthony, meanwhile, set a new scoring record for a US player by scoring 37 points, passing Stephon Marbury. That 83 point margin of victory? Yep, you guessed it, another USA Olympics record.

So what does Team USA do for an encore? Unlike the first two games where the starters had trouble getting the offense going early, they left little to prove on Thursday. My guess is that we'll see a more workmanlike performance from Team USA, who may already be looking ahead to Monday's game against Argentina.

Lithuania (1-2) should be a tougher matchup than the USA's previous two opponents Nigeria and Tunisia. Although the Lithuanian national team have not had the best showing so far. with their only win coming against Nigeria, they're still a potentially dangerous team. Linas Kleiza, currently of the Toronto Raptors, is their best player, but not the only one with ties to US baksetball. Renaldas Seibutis and Martynas Andriuškevičius spent some time in the NBA's summer league and D league respectively, and Martynas Pocius played basketball in Duke under USA head coach Mike Krzyzewksi. So there's some experience here.

I still think that a team can defeat the United States. It will take a flawless game on the opponents end and a terrible showing from USA, but it's definitely something that can happen. I don't, however, think Lithuania will be the team that will do it, but still expect the USA's margin of victory to be much, much lower than the last one.

In other Olympic men's basketball news, France defeated Tunisia 73-69 earlier this morning. Russia staged an epic comeback against Spain, beating them 77-74 despite being down 20-2 to start the game. Meanwhile, for their part, US women's team continued its dominance by defeating the Czech Republic 88-61 on Friday.

As we approach opening tip for our game, however, it might be fun to ponder a hypothetical question from reader Joe Holt that looks past this tournament and into the realm of hypothetical without comparing this team to the 1992 Dream Team:

Do you think that this roster of non-selected eligible US players could beat the current squad, if fully fit?

Rose, Wade, Pierce, Duncan, Howard to start,

with Rondo, Ellis, J Johnson, Garnett, Bynum, Irving and Bosh off the bench?

Obviously they don't really have anyone to match up at SF with LeBron and KD, but they're arguably as strong as the first team at the guard positions and definitely stronger at PF and Center. It'd be a good game!

It certainly would, I think the team with Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo would have a definite chance, but I may possibly* have a pro-Boston athlete bias.

*Almost definitely.

What do you think? As always we're here to take your thoughts, predictions, comments, questions and jokes. You can email them to hunter.felt.freelance@guardiannews.com or tweet @HunterFelt, Opening tip-off is at 9:30am EST (2:30pm BST)