USA Barely Beats Lithuania 99-94

 
LeBron James reminded the entire world once again why he’s the best basketball player on the planet.  "I just try to do whatever the team needs me to do,” LeBron said after scoring nine points towards the end of the 4^th quarter.  “We've got so many great scorers on this team. . . . Tonight was one of those instances when I needed to step up offensively."
 
Until today, the last time the U.S. failed to score 100 points was against Greece in the third game of the 2008 Olympics.  Their 8 game winning steak of scoring 100 points or more has now ended.
 
Chris Paul said, "Those guys played an unbelievable game...They executed. We've got to do a better job communicating."
 
Kevin Love said, "We needed a game like this."

Doc Rivers said that Chris Paul and LeBron James “saved this game for USA.”
 
The U.S. Team can learn a lot more about themselves with 5-point victories as opposed to 83-point victories.  For example the U.S. was plus 20 when Chandler and Love were on the floor, but were minus 7 when they were off the floor.  But what enabled the U.S. to win today more than anything else was a combination of basketball experience, FIBA experience, and veteran know-how; something that a team constructed of 23-year-old players and younger would not have. 
 
If David Stern wants America to win the gold for the Olympics, the U.S. will have to bring their best players out every time as they play against teams such as Lithuania.