OLYM - USA happy with hard-earned win over Lithuania

LONDON (Olympics) - Two days ago, as the USA crushed Nigeria, the defending Olympic champions had an air of invincibility about them. On Saturday it was very much back down to earth as the Americans scraped pas Lithuania with a hard-fought 99-94 win.

Although ahead for most of the game, Lithuania remained within striking distance until the very end. On several occasions they even looked like they could sneak the win.

But LeBron James stepped up with seven points in the last four minutes to steer the USA to safety.

Their two last games could not have been different.

Kevin Love dismissed the relevance of Thursday's game in the context of the tournament.

"We've gotta live day by day," he said.

"It (game against Nigeria) was an unbelievable game as far as setting records was concerned but we just need to put that behind us, also put this game behind us and focus on Monday."

The USA went from destroying Nigeria to edging past a Lithuania, a team that the very same Nigeria had beaten just over a month ago.

But neither Kobe Bryant nor head coach Mike Kryzewski saw the narrow win as a terrible performance. They just felt that Lithuania played particularly well.

"It was a great game," said Bryant.

"We knew coming in that it was going to be a fight."

"They did a good job attacking the rim, their bigs made great plays, their guards made great shots,

"They executed their game to perfection really."

Krzyzewski went so far as to say that the Lithuanians played magnificently.

"They were quick as a unit, they played as one seamlessly. I thought their veterans led the way," he said.

 

"Kleiza was particularly outstanding and Pocius played great. We had to make big plays to win.

"So far things have come easy to us in the tournament. Today, we played against a terrific team.

"We had 17 steals and they didn't translate in the number of points that they should. It showed great resolve on their part that when they made a mistake, they recovered and didn't put their head down.

"They have been in big games before, they are not intimidated by us."

The Americans recognised they could have played better. But after being tested for the first time in the tournament, they were also pleased in the way they responded.

"We know how we respond in that type of situation," said Bryant.

"Everybody just kept their calm, disposition and level head and we played our game."

Unsurprisingly, James was singled out for how his stepped up.

"He got into a good rhythm, so we kept going to him," said Bryant.

"He had a great mismatch and he kept attacking, getting to the basket and knocking down shots."

FIBA