USA just another basketball team
ATHENS — Remember the good ol’ days when the U.S. dominated men’s basketball? Those days are history.
It took the 2004 team only seven days to do what previous American teams had needed almost seven decades to do: lose two games. The United States had gone 109-2 in the country’s first 68 years of Olympic competition. They are 2-2 this year after Saturday night’s 94-90 loss to Lithuania.
“International basketball has caught up,” Lithuania guard Sarunas Jasikevicius said. “The NBA is still the best league and all the best players play there, but obviously all the best players are not here who play in that league. This team, in my opinion, is probably still the favorite to win the gold, but this team is not unbeatable. Everybody knew in Barcelona they were going to win; In Atlanta, probably everybody knew they were going to win. But now I think other teams have a chance.”
The Americans, who broke a 25-game winning streak with a 92-73 loss to Puerto Rico in their 2004 opener, still can qualify for the quarterfinals with a victory over Angola on Monday night. Lithuania, which, at 4-0, is one of only two unbeaten teams along with Spain, has clinched the top spot in Group B.
“It’s tough,” American forward Carmelo Anthony said. “Our backs are against the wall now. … We can’t come out expecting anybody to give us anything. We’ve got to work for what we have, and we’ve got to earn it.”
Lithuania has only one NBA player, Sacramento Kings forward Darius Songaila, but that didn’t stop the little country that could. Jasikevicius, who played at Maryland and says he’s not good enough for the NBA, scored a game-high 28 points. In the final 2:47, he hit three 3-pointers and three free throws.
His four-point play was the killer for the Americans.
The U.S. led 84-81 when Jasikevicius, as he was releasing the ball, hung in the air just long enough to get Lamar Odom to foul him. The ball found nothing but the back of the net, and his free throw gave the Lithuanians a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“It was tough,” Odom said. “It was a tough move, a tough shot. The ref called it, so it must have been a foul.”
In 2000, Lithuania lost to the U.S. 85-83 in the semifinals when Jasikevicius’ 3-pointer fell short at the buzzer.
“In Syndey four years ago, it never had a chance to go in,” Jasikevicius said.
This time, he didn’t give the Americans a chance. And now, almost no one is giving them a chance to win the gold.