US five blows out Lithuania

BARCELONA, Spain—James Harden and the United States sprinted into the championship game of the Fiba Basketball World Cup, riding a huge third quarter to a 96-68 victory over Lithuania on Thursday night.

Harden scored all of his 16 points in the lopsided third quarter of a near carbon copy of the Americans’ quarterfinal victory over Slovenia, when he awoke from a scoreless first half to help turn a close game into a blowout in a split second.

The Americans will travel to Madrid to face France or Serbia on Sunday as they try to repeat as world champions for the first time.

They will arrive as even heavier favorites following Spain’s stunning loss to France in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. With their veteran experience, near misses against the US in the last two Olympic gold-medal games and home-court advantage, the second-ranked Spanish were considered the team with the best chance to beat the Americans.

Thursday’s game was an eight-point duel at the break before the US made 14 of 19 shots in the third period and outscored Lithuania 33-14.

Kyrie Irving had 18 points and Klay Thompson added 16 for the Americans in a rematch of the 2010 World Cup semifinals, also played on Sept. 11, the date of the terrorist attacks on the US in 2001. Kevin Durant scored a US-record 38 points in that one, an 89-74 victory.

This one started that way, staying within a single-digit margin until Thompson made consecutive baskets for a 32-22 lead. Lithuania answered with four straight and the margin stayed right around there the remainder of the first half, with the Americans leading 43-35.

The physical play nearly turned ugly when DeMarcus Cousins reacted angrily after appearing to be elbowed in the neck by center Jonas Valanciunas of the Toronto Raptors while battling for a rebound. He wound up as if he were going to punch Valanciunas, drawing a technical foul.

The Americans then threw the knockout blow, coming out of the locker room with an 18-2 run—emphasis on run, because they turned this game into a fast-break drill.

That got Harden untracked. He had his first basket and a 3-pointer to cap a 10-0 start that made it 53-35 in less than 2 minutes.

Renaldas Seibutis made two free throws— Lithuania wouldn’t make a field goal for the first 4:43 of the period—before the US speedsters raced to eight more points, with Anthony Davis slamming down a lob from Kyrie Irving to make it 61-37.

Harden had seven straight points near the end of the quarter to make it 70-43, and it was 76-49 entering the fourth. AP