Updated 07:10 PM EDT, Thu, Mar 28, 2024

Team USA vs Lithuania Box Score Results, Highlights, Recap & Where to Watch Replay: US Advances to 2014 FIBA World Cup Final

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Team USA had a runaway victory against Lithuania in Madrid Thursday, accumulating 96 points against the opponent's 68, booking themselves for a title defense matchup in Madrid.

The victor did not get much of a challenge from the Europeans at their 2014 FIBA World Cup faceoff, SB Nation reported, noting their effective effort to stiffle Jonas Valanciunas and his squad to just 30 percent shooting from the field.

The Valanciunas frontline was more threatening than other opponents, USA Today said, but the American defense held up, giving Lithuania just nine successes of 29 shots in the first half. SB Nation commented that might be their best defensive performance of the tourney, after giving Lithuania fewer than 20 points in every quarter. 

Kyrie Irving was USA's top performer, producing 18 points. James Harden and Klay Thompson were not far behind with 16 points, the report said.

The decisive moment, USA Today added, was care of Anthony Davis, with 5 minutes, 30 seconds left in the third quarter. He passed to Irving, and then was given the ball back for a dunk that amazed the Palau Sant Jordi crowd.

The Americans were plagued with targetting issues early on, with only 15 of 36 shots producing scores in the first half, USA Today recalled. They led 43-35, however, thanks to Thompson's performance, burrying six of 11 in the first half. 

USA had 18 offensive rebounds, with eight different players taking at least one, SB Nation said. Kenneth FariedDavis and DeMarcus Cousins also worked hard, it added, saying that could play well for them in the finals. 

On the other fence, Mindaugas Kuzminskas led Lithuania with 15 points and nine rebounds, SB Nation said. Valanciunas added another 15 points and seven rebounds.

On the game, Irving told USA Today: "Whether it was nerves or us not hitting shots or us just figuring it out on the defensive end, we make adjustments at halftime and listen to our coaches and I think we all do a great job of locking in and focusing and trying to destroy teams in the second half."

"I mean, you know, obviously everybody wanted to see us play Spain, but we're not, so those questions can go out the window. It's all about Serbia and France, and we're going to prepare as best we can," he added. 

On Sunday, the winning team will be pitted against the winner of a France-Serbia match, with the World Cup and a 2016 Summer Olympics berth in Rio de Janeiro at stake, the SB Nation report said. France upset Spain on Wednesday.

After cruising through the match with a 28-point win, the Americans might just be the first team in history to win every game of a FIBA run by 20 points at least, SB Nation predicted. The 1994 team won the world championship with a margin of 15 points or greater in every game.

Replay schedules are on ESPN Go.

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