LeBron James helps USA survive a huge scare against Lithuania, 99-94 – London Olympics Men Basketball Recap Part 1
Two days after running riot over the Nigerians in a record breaking extravaganza, the Americans took on a Lithuanian team that did not seem intimated by what is deemed to be the best basketball team in the world.
After being outclassed in the first quarter, the Europeans showed some resolve and gave Team USA a scare when they took an 84-82 nearly midway through the fourth quarter.
All of a sudden the hot shooting, swashbuckling, record tumbling USA team was in a spot of bother and believe it or not they needed a superstar to step up and take control.
And a superstar did emerge, the best of them all, the reigning MVP and perhaps the most complete player of all times – LeBron James.
James scored 9 of his 20 points in the last four minutes of the decisive fourth quarter and pretty much single handedly change the momentum of the game. The man who scored 6.6 points on average in the last three games and did not manage to cross the double scoring figures even once, shot 9 of 14 from the floor, hauled down five rebounds and also made three steal as the Americans endured their first real test in this year’s games.
Carmelo Anthony also matched LeBron’s tally of 20 points, but when the getting got tough, the New York Knicks star mellowed down. Kevin Durant was the third leading scorer for USA with 16 points while Deron Williams shot 4 of 12 for 12 points in the ball game.
Chris Paul also had a good game with 7 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals, while Kevin Love rounded off the night with 7 points and 8 rebounds for Team USA, which shot only 44.3 percent from the floor and 61.3 percent (19 of 31) from the foul line.
The Lithuanians were paced by Linas Kleiza, who scored a game high 25 points on a 10 of 20 shooting effort, including two three pointers. Martynas Pocius followed with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists while Darius Songaila added 11 points to the tally.
The Lithuanians are now placed at number 4 in Group A with 5 points and will qualify for the next round if they beat Tunisia in their last group fixture.
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