On Thursday, USA was set to play a big, lengthy Lithuania team. After watching Spain crumble on Wednesday to France, USA was hoping the same did not happen to them against Lithuania, and it did not.

USA came out struggling once again in the first quarter, just like they did against Slovenia. Early in the game, they were shooting 23 percent from the field with 5 turnovers, but Lithuania was unable to take advantage of USA’s poor play as they were only up 3.

USA was also in foul trouble in the first quarter with James Harden, Stephen Curry, and Kenneth Faried all picking up two early fouls. However, that did not hurt USA at all. Klay Thompson came in off the bench and carried the scoring load. He led USA with 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting in the first half.

Lithuania was still hanging close due to its ability to draw many fouls on USA. Lithuania shot 22 costless throws in the first half, heading to halftime only down 8 led by Mindaugas Kuzminskas’ 12 points.

James Harden was once again held scoreless through the first half.

However, just like Slovenia, Lithuania got crushed by USA in the second half. Led by James Harden, USA started the third period on a 10-0. Harden started the second half with 0 points, but he ended the third quarter with 16. Just like that, USA outscored Lithuania by 19 points in the third quarter to take a commanding lead heading into the final quarter.

With a comfortable lead, the final period was dominated by Kyrie Irving, who scored 11 of his game-high 18 in the fourth. USA outscored Lithuania by a point in the fourth quarter to win 96-68. USA’s performance was similar to its performance against Slovenia – slow first half, dominant second half.

Each team had four players in double figures. For USA, it was Kyrie Irving with 18, James Harden and Klay Thompson with 16, and Stephen Curry with 13. After a solid game against Slovenia, Derrick Rose struggled once again against Lithuania, scoring 4 points on 1-for-8 shooting. Kenneth Faried was awfully quiet as well, putting in 9 points and 6 rebounds on an unlikely 38 percent shooting.

For the Lithuanians, Jonas Valanciunas and Mindaugas Kuzminskas each had 15. Alas Juskevicius and Martynas Pocius added 12 and 10 respectively. Prior to this game, Kuzminskas had 12 total points throughout the entire FIBA World Cup. Today, he scored 15 points. 11 of Valanciunas’ 15 points came from the costless throw line.  

Lithuania went to the line 42 times and hit 32 of its costless throws. However, their field goal shooting was horrid as they shot just 30 percent, including 11 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

USA led all but 4 and a half minutes of this game. They dominated Lithuania in rebounding 50-38, fast break points 24-6, and points off turnovers 24-5. USA’s largest lead was 32. Lithuania only enjoyed its largest lead of 3 early in the game.

USA advances to the gold medal game and will play the winner of France and Serbia on Sunday, September 14 at 3 pm Eastern Time.

Lithuania is not done yet. They will play the loser of France and Serbia for the bronze medal on Saturday, September 13 at 12 pm Eastern Time.