Stifling defense takes U.S., Serbia into Basketball World Cup semifinals

The United States rebounded from their first defeat of the Basketball World Cup to demolish Italy on Tuesday and reach the semifinals.

The Americans beat Italy 100-63 to put their second-round loss to Lithuania two days earlier firmly in their rearview mirror and set up a showdown with either Germany or Latvia on Friday.

Mikal Bridges, who led the U.S. in scoring with 24 points in Manila, said the mantra heading into the game was to “set the tone.”

“That’s what the coach has been preaching to us,” said the Brooklyn Nets forward, who also pulled down seven rebounds. “The bench has been doing a pretty good job, but I think the starters have been letting them down a little bit with a slow start.”

Tyrese Haliburton was the winning team’s second-highest scorer with 18 points, followed by Austin Reaves on 12. The pair provided two of the highlights of the game, with crowd favorite Reaves stuffing in a huge rebound dunk in the first half.

Haliburton conjured up another memorable moment in the second half, setting up Paolo Banchero for an alley-oop with a pass between his legs.

U.S. head coach Steve Kerr said he was not worried about his players letting their energy levels drop after such a high-octane performance. He likened his team to “the horse turning back to the barn.”

“The horse starts picking up the pace when it senses it’s near the barn, and that’s what happening right now – our guys are sensing this is the end of the journey,” Kerr said.

Italy were appearing in their first World Cup quarterfinal since 1998. Power forward Nicolo Melli said there was “nothing this group could do more.”

“We did everything we could do. This season, we will work even harder and come back next year and again and again and again,” he said.

Serbia suffocates Lithuania to enter the semifinals

In the day’s first quarterfinal, Serbia used their stifling defense to beat Lithuania 87-68.

Bogdan Bogdanovic made 21 points for Serbia, who will play either Canada or Slovenia in the semifinals on Friday.

He paid tribute to teammate Borisa Simanic, who underwent surgery to remove a kidney after being hit by an opposition player’s elbow earlier in the tournament.

Bogdanovic said Simanic addressed the squad before their quarterfinal and gave them “amazing energy.”

“He said, ‘Guys, I’m good, don’t worry, let’s win tonight,'” said Bogdanovic, who finished as the game’s top scorer.

“For him to think about us after everything that happened to him, he united us. That’s an amazing guy, and this is for him.”

Bogdanovic put in an all-action performance as Serbia downed a previously unbeaten Lithuania team that went into the game fresh from their win over the U.S.

Lithuania’s Tadas Sedekerskis, who led his team in scoring with 14 points, said the win over the U.S. team did not take their minds off the prize.

“We came here to win a medal,” he said. “The game against the United States, as you can see now, means nothing, just history.”