Team USA's defeat was a long time coming at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Germany and Latvia continued to play some of the best basketball of the tournament, and Spain collapsed in the fourth quarter for the second game in a row.
Three Points: Lithuania outplays Team USA, Germany rolls over Slovenia, and Spain's Achilles heel delivers their undoing for the second game in a row
The better team comes out on top as Lithuania defeats Team USA
Lack of size, poor movement shooting, and slow starts have gotten Team USA into trouble in every game at the FIBA World Cup so far, but they've always been able to prevail. Until today.
Today, Team USA brought their lackadaisical starts and unpreparedness to a new level against Lithuania and they finally paid the price. Lithuania's game plan was not much different than Montenegro's. Run pick-and-rolls to force a switch, and then feed the post. When the double comes find the open man, and then crash the glass.
The difference maker today was Lithuania's shooting. They're better than Montenegro, a lot better, and Lithuania started 9/9 from three to make sure Team USA knew that and they led 31-12 by the end of the first quarter.
The halftime lead was 17, and Team USA wouldn't improve their effort and make significant adjustments until the second half. In the third quarter, they made two key changes. One was simple, they closed out on shooters. During Lithuania's 9/9 start, it looked like Team USA couldn't care less if Lithuania shot open threes. This adjustment helped as Lithuania cooled off significantly in the second half.
Team USA also defended post mismatches better. They began to front and bring help from the weak side. This made it much tougher for Jonas Valanciunas and Donatas Motiejunas to simply catch and finish over smaller defenders.
On the other end, they started to relentlessly attack Lithuania's drop coverage. Anthony Edwards thrived doing this, finishing with 35 points. But Team USA never found enough to even tie this game up. They got it as close as four a couple of times but ultimately lost by six.
Team USA was once again outrebounded. For the second game running, they gave up as many offensive rebounds (18) as defensive rebounds they got. Starting center Jaren Jackson Jr. has one (1) rebound over the last two games. That's unacceptable and will lead to their elimination if they don't find a solution. Play Jackson with Paolo Banchero or Bobby Portis or give more minutes to Walker Kessler, maybe do both of those things. But Head Coach Steve Kerr has to do something if he's serious about winning the gold medal this summer.
Germany and Latvia continue to play some of the best basketball at the FIBA World Cup
Their reward will be facing each other in the quarterfinals. Germany is one of two remaining undefeated teams at the FIBA World Cup, the other is Lithuania, and they've gotten here with some very impressive victories.
Germany beat Finland, Japan, and Australia in the first phase and has now beaten Georgia and Slovenia as well. They've won five of these six games without star man Franz Wagner, and only one of these games -- Australia -- was even close.
Today, they blew out Luka Doncic's Slovenia 100-71. Dennis Schroder led the way with a 24-point and 10-assist double-double, and four other teammates finished in double figures. Daniel Theis finished with 14, Isaac Bonga finished with 12, and Mo Wagner and Niels Giffey each scored 10 off the bench.
On defense, they executed beautifully against Doncic and Slovenia's spread pick-and-roll system. They switched and had Theis and Johannes Voigtmann guard Doncic on the perimeter. They gave him some space and decided to let him beat them with the step-back. It wasn't falling for Doncic today, he finished 2-of-11 from deep and only shot five free throws.
It was another perfect team basketball performance by Germany, and in the quarterfinals, they'll face Latvia who are also playing near-perfect basketball. Today, Latvia beat Brazil 104-84.
Luca Banchi has seen a lot in his head coaching career. He's coached in France, Greece, Germany, Russia, and Italy. He won two Italian league titles coaching Olimpia Milan and is currently the head coach of the Latvian national team. Guiding them to the quarterfinals of this tournament is probably the best achievement of his coaching career.
To make the quarterfinals they had to beat one of France or Canada in the first phase of play. After beating France and making it to the second phase, they would have to beat Spain to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the quarterfinals. They did that.
They're doing all of this without Boston Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis who's out with plantar fasciitis, and they're also missing former New Orleans Pelican sharpshooter Dairis Bertans. There was no way to see this team reaching this level of play, but Banchi, Davis Bertans, Arturs Zagars, Kristers Zoriks, Roland Smits, and Andrejs Grazulis are forming a rotation that can execute at a high level on both ends of the floor and win ball games.
Germany has looked better than everyone this summer, but if they don't give Latvia the respect they deserve their gold medal dreams could come to an abrupt ending.
Canada eliminates Spain in a do-or-die match-up, and Dillon Brooks keeps their gold medal aspirations alive
Spain is the defending champion. They won the FIBA World Cup four years ago, beating Argentina in the final. While they no longer have a duo like Pau and Marc Gasol, they are still a force to be reckoned with in international play and have a deeply experienced squad that never loses two in a row.
They faced off against Canada today, and both teams suffered shocked defeats to Latvia and Brazil respectively in the first game of the second phase to make this one a win-or-go-home affair for both sides. Canada would have to give Spain back-to-back FIBA World Cup losses for the first time in decades.
Through three quarters, it looked like it wasn't going to happen for Canada and basketball heritage was going to win out. They trailed by 10 at halftime, and 12 heading into the fourth quarter. Then, Spain's Achilles heel was exploited for the second game in a row.
This Spanish team's biggest weakness is their lack of an elite point guard. They have offensive firepower in Juancho and Willy Hernangomez, Santi Aldama, Alex Abrines, and plenty of other shooters on their roster. But they don't have a player who can reliably set these guys up, and at times it's a struggle for them to even consistently get into their halfcourt offense.
This was their undoing today as their offense completely cratered against Canada in the fourth quarter. Juan Nunez, Alberto Diaz, and Dario Brizuela all struggled to get Spain in a position to get good shots and their lead evaporated thanks to only making one field goal through nine minutes of play in the fourth quarter.
Spain lost the lead, and even though they made two field goals in the final minute, Canada made their free throws and completed the fourth-quarter comeback to set up a match-up with Luka Doncic's Slovenia in the quarterfinals.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way for Canada with 30 points and 7 assists, but Dillon Brooks was the key man in the fourth quarter. He finished with 22 points and shot a perfect 3/3 from deep, including a game-tying three with 80 seconds to go. With Team USA and Germany on the other side of the bracket, Canada is arguably the gold medal favorite.
2023 FIBA World Cup Line of the Day:
Lithuania's entire team. Seven players finished with double-figures, and Donatas Motiejunas and Rokas Jokubaitis each finished with 9 points. Everyone who played for them scored today, and their bench outscored Team USA's 61 to 38.
2023 FIBA World Cup Play of the Day:
When Mindaugas Kuzminskas made this one, it was clearly going to be Lithuania's day.
2023 FIBA World Cup Quote of the Day:
Vaidas Kariniasukas rubbing it into a recently fouled out Austin Reaves. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
What's coming tomorrow at the 2023 FIBA World Cup?
No basketball tomorrow. 17-32 play and the second phase is done. We'll be back on Tuesday to recap the quarterfinals. We're taking Lithuania over Serbia and Canada over Slovenia, and picking Canada to make the gold medal game.
We're taking Team USA over Italy and Germany over Latvia, and picking Germany to make the gold medal game. Canada for Gold, Silver for Germany, and Bronze for Team USA.
A final note here, congratulations to Royal Ivey and South Sudan for qualifying for next summer's Olympics for the first time in their history after only gaining independence 12 years ago.