Team USA Spoils Lithuania’s Upset Dream

 Background: East L.A. Sports Scene.Com will keep our avid basketball fans up to date with our recaps and coverage of Team USA & USA Basketball at the FIBA World Cup Tournament. This tournament was re-formatted to become the FIBA World Cup of Basketball. The (24) countries that will compete for the 2014 FIBA World title, began “Pool or Round-Robin” play in several Spanish cities on August 30th. USA Basketball, the national governing body of basketball for our country, once again has assembled (12) outstanding NBA players, both young and veteran, from our Men’s National Team roster. They are charged with defending our World Championship title, claimed in Istanbul, Turkey, four years ago. To follow and review all of the 2.5 weeks of International hoops action, go to these sites: www.nba.com/fiba and www.fiba.com. To follow Team USA on-line go to www.usab.com

Recap/Game Day 8/

  Team USA once again rose to the challenge of competing against some of the best teams in FIBA during their march to the 2014 World Cup Championship. Today, on 9/11, they were again too much to handle, as they convincingly beat down the Lithuanian national team. Again, a slow start allowed the opponent to stay close until halftime, trailing by only 8 points, (43-35). Then James Harden exploded for all of his (16) points in the period and that was the beginning of the end for this rival. Leading scorer in the game was Kyrie Irving (18), while Klay Thompson added (16), and Stephen Curry (13). All Team USA players saw needed action, as at times, the game got a little too “edgey” as evidenced by DeMarcus Cousins taking a rough elbow during post-play and Rudy Gay being fouled extremely hard on his drive to the basket late in the 4th quarter. The post-game handshake was not the friendliest, nor the most congratulatory, as tempers flared during the player line-up. Coach Krzyzewski  calmly, yet assertively stepped in and restored order with his great respectability and global sports ambassadorship. Let’s hear it for Coach K!  Final score: USA 96 Lithuania 68.                                 Rico Cabrera, Sr./East L.A. Sports Scene.Com

Selected Player Stats:

Irving (18) points on 8-15 FGs/2-5 3 ptrs/4 assts/2 stls; Thompson (20) points on 7-12 FGs/2-5 3-ptrs/3 assts; 2 blk/1 stl; Harden (12) points on 6-11 FGs/2-4 3-Ptrs/5 rebs/3 stl; Curry (13) points on 4-8 FGs/3-6 3 ptrs/2-2 FTs/1 asst; Faried (9) points on 3-8 FGs, 3-5 FTs/6 rebs/3 assts/1 stl/Best Dunk of the Game; Davis (Best“Alley-Oop” Dunk of Game From Irving).

Next Game: vs. Winner of Serbia/France, Sunday, Sept 14th at 12 noon (PST). on ESPN