Team USA lost its first game of the FIBA World Cup on Sunday morning when it was defeated by Lithuania, 110-104. Lithuania jumped to a big early lead behind some incredibly hot 3-point shooting, and the Americans were never fully caught up.
After playing so well in earlier games, Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves had his second straight underwhelming contest. He went 1-of-4 from the field and played only 13 minutes due to foul trouble.
Some Lakers fans have been calling for Reaves to be moved into Team USA’s starting lineup or at least get more playing time. Head coach Steve Kerr explained afterward that he cut Reaves’ playing time short because Lithuania went with the tactic of posting up the guard.
Via Heavy:
“I took him out because of the foul trouble,” Kerr said of Reeves. “So they posted him out. They’re a very strong team and they have a lot of their guys trying to back us down and post us up. It just wasn’t Austin’s night. You know you got a couple of plays down there that he’d liked to have back, I’m sure, but not worried about Austin.”
Team USA will still move on to the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Cup. It will face Italy early Tuesday morning.
