U.S. Men's basketball team celebrate narrow win over Lithuania
The U.S. men's basketball team survived its first true test of the Olympics Saturday, narrowly beating Lithuania 99-94 after trailing in the fourth quarter.
Two nights after routing Nigeria by a whopping 83 points and scoring an Olympic-record 156 points, the Americans didn't take a convincing lead until Chris Paul's 3-pointer with 5:38 remaining.
LeBron James took over late, scoring eight of his 20 points in the final four minutes to help the Americans remain unbeaten and avoid their first loss in the Olympics since falling to Argentina in the 2004 semifinals.
Narrow win: U.S. player Chris Paul shoots against Lithuania during their close match on Saturday, where the Americans won 99-94
Victory: The U.S. team celebrate after winning over Lithuania in the Olympic Games men's preliminary round group
Carmelo Anthony also scored 20 and Kevin Durant had 16.
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The U.S. could never gain control of the game, leading just 55-51 at halftime after a poor defensive effort and yielding 58 percent shooting for the game.
Linas Kleiza led Lithuania with 25 points.
At the Athens Games in 2004, Lithuania beat the U.S. 94-90 before the Americans atoned with a win in the bronze-medal game.
Saturday's narrow win comes after blow-out victories over France and Tunisia last week.
Critics have said it was unsportsmanlike of Team USA to allow the score to run up against Nigeria, who put forward an Olympic basketball team for the first time this year.
'Our guys just couldn't miss,' said coach Mike Krzyzewski.
NBA giants: LeBron James, left, goes for a Lebron James goes in for a lay-up past Lithuania's Linas Kleiza, as does Russell Westbrook, right
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