Team USA and Lithuania are playing live on the FIBA World Cup Basketball schedule on Thursday and the game is from Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona in Spain as the semifinals get underway and the United States are the favorites once again and this matchup starts at 3 pm ET on ESPN and streaming from the WatchESPN website as Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and James Harden try to advance to the gold medal game.
The United States remains the favorites in the tournament and they now will face off against Lithuania before matching up with the winner of the game between Serbia and France. The loss of Spain was a blow to teams that could beat the United States, as they had Ricky Rubio and Pau Gasol, while France now could be an underdog.
The US won all their group games and they looked dominant in those matchups and they breezed through this stage as well. The team won over Slovenia and now they will play against Lithuania after also beating Mexico in the first round. The gold medal game is coming up and the US should be the winners and they have a tough test with Lithuania, as they have a big team.
Derrick Rose comes in looking good after starting off slow and he could be the key for the US on Thursday. The team only had one major test, with the game against Turkey and that was a rematch of the last gold medal game. The team now has the chance to win again and players like Rose, Kyrie Irving and Antony Davis are ready to step up.
Check here for the Team USA and Lithuania live coverage.
The tournament rounds coming up are the Round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals and those games will be played in both Madrid and Barcelona. The United States plays against Mexico in the next round and that is in Barcelona, while the other games include the Dominican Republic against Slovenia, New Zealand against Lithuania, while Turkey and Australia also are in the round. The round of 16 is Saturday and Sunday before a rest day and the quarterfinals start next week ahead of the third place game and gold medal game the following Sunday.
The United States comes into the game after staying undefeated in the group stage and they won over Ukraine last and they also had wins over the Dominican Republic, Turkey as well as Finland and the win over Turkey was a rematch of the finals last time the tournament was played. The US trailed Turkey at the half and came back for the win, while they blew out Finland and some of the other teams as well.
