Lithuania 68-87 Serbia
The first quarter was amazing back and forth action but Lithuania's hot shooting just couldn't counter Serbia's ability to get easy buckets. Man, Serbia had so many dunks and layups, the Lithuanian defense just couldn't shore up protection in the lane and Serbia sliced and diced them up. A really impressive performance by Serbia, if they can keep the scoring going, they're going to be tough to beat.
Italy 63-100 USA
USA's offense was rolling here, Italy just never had a chance. USA's defense, too, was really good, tight and in control. This was the best, most complete USA performance that I've seen so far. Italy played hard but this was like when a loaded Kansas squad comes up against a plucky overachieving Wisconsin-Green Bay or something: it was clear quickly who the better team was. It still seems plainly obvious to me that USA's best 5 is Tyrese Halliburtaon, Austin Reaves, Anthony Edwards, Mikal Bridges and Jaren Jackson (and I'm loving Paolo Banchero off the bench), still not sure what the fascination with Josh Hart is or the desire to make Jalen Brunson the tone-setter (when he strikes me as the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency guy); but the team as constructed may well be good enough to win it all anyway, so we'll see.
Latvia 79-81 Germany
Tight game for the most part, Germany had a burst of scoring early in the 4th quarter that gave them enough of a lead to hold off Latvia's furious attack down the stretch. Potential game-winning shot (courtesy of Davis Bertans) doinked away as the clock expired. Close game, Germany was the better team but just barely. Germany is nice squad but they strike me as losing focus at times, if they play for 40 straight minutes, they'll be a tough out but I feel like they're the 4th best team remaining; we'll see.
Slovenia 89-100 Canada
Close at halftime, but Slovenia kinda melted down in the 3rd quarter when Canada started attacking the basket and racking up frustration fouls. It struck me early on that a 10-point lead on either side could be insurmountable and in the 3rd period, Canada put that into practice, getting up by 16 and taking advantage of Slovenian frustration (eh, the refs kinda favored the Canadians, I thought). A tit-for-tat ejections of Dillon Brooks and Luka Doncic spiced up the post-game talk but petty much killed whatever momentum Slovenia might have been able to regain. Canada was the better team but the game was closer than the score looks.
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