United States pound Italy in the quarterfinals of 2023 FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup

Mikal Bridges (YouTube)

The United States are in the semifinals of the 2023 FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup in Pasay, Philippines. On Tuesday in the quarterfinals, the Americans pounded Italy 100-63.

Three Americans shined in their knockout game. Brooklyn Nets shooting guard Mikal Bridges of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had 24 points, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton of Milwaukee, Wisconsin had 18 points, and Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Austin Reaves of Newark, Arkansas had 12 points.

It was actually a bounce back game for the United States as they lost their last game by a score of 110-104 to Lithuania. This was actually the second time in 2023 that the United States lost, as they were beaten 83-76 by Brazil on February 26.

After Lithuania’s superb performance against the United States on Sunday, one would have expected Lithuania to breeze by Serbia in the first of four quarterfinal matches from Pasay on Tuesday. However, that was not the case. Lithuania had a very flat performance to say the least as they were clobbered, 87-68. The leading scorer for Serbia was shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks, who had 21 points.

Two more quarterfinals will take place on Wednesday. Germany will face Latvia and Canada will face Slovenia. The Slovenian squad is led by Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks. Doncic actually leads the tournament with 26.4 points per game. It has also been an excellent World Cup for Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is averaging 23.8 points per game. It will be interesting to see how Canada performs. They are coming off an emotional 88-85 win over Spain on Sunday. With the win, Canada qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

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