Lakers News: Team USA, Austin Reaves Advance to FIBA Semis After Obliterating Italy
After getting embarrassed by Lithuania in its last game, Team USA was certainly motivated to come out with a vengeance versus Italy in the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Cup.
The thought of crashing out early in this tournament was too much for this group to bear, even if it is a relatively inexperienced one in terms of international play.
Getting strong performances from Tyrese Haliburton (18 PTS) and Mikal Bridges (24 PTS) -- as well as a bounce-back effort from Austin Reaves (12 PTS) -- Team USA bludgeoned Italy by a score of 100-63.
Reaves in particular struggled big time versus Lithuania. He was getting into it with players on the other team, and the Lithuanians were constantly targeting Reaves on switches into the post. The physicality was not something he seemed comfortable with. While often lauded as a decent perimeter defender, you must wonder if this wrinkle employed by Team Lithuania might be utilized in NBA play this year.
As it pertained to the game versus the Italians, Reaves was his normal self -- providing the Americans with some real pop off the bench.
Haliburton, Bridges, and Reaves were the only three players in double-figures. Reaves scored an efficient 12 points in 20 minutes of play. Haliburton scored an even more efficient 18 points in 19 minutes. The most impressive? Bridges -- scoring 24 points in only 18 minutes.
The athleticism advantage was quite prevalent, and as such Italy had a lot of trouble trying to break Team USA's trapping tactics.
As we advance in the tournament, Team USA will play the winner of Latvia vs. Germany in the Semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, Lithuania ended up losing to Serbia -- meaning that Serbia will play the winner of Slovenia and Canada.
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