U.S. Crushes Lithuania

With Carmelo Anthony back at full strength, the United States had little trouble with Lithuania.

Anthony, who hyperextended his knee and left in the second quarter of a victory over Brazil last week, scored 19 points Sunday as the United States cruised past Lithuania, 111-88, in a tuneup for the world championships.

Anthony set the tone early with a slam dunk in the opening minutes that drew a huge ovation from the crowd, and LeBron James closed out the first half with a three-point shot just before the buzzer to give the U.S. a 56-32 lead at the break.

Dwyane Wade added 14 points as the United States improved to 4-0 in exhibition games leading up to the world championships.

The Americans had a 28-point lead by the end of the third quarter.

“Our game plan was to just keep the ball moving,” said Anthony, who leads the U.S. in scoring in the four exhibition games. “We know we can score from just about anywhere, so we don’t have to wait for a fantastic shot.”

Early in the final quarter, James brought the crowd to its feet with a one-handed dunk that made it 87-55.

The Cleveland Cavaliers star gave the Americans a 108-78 advantage with another jam with two minutes left.

Seven players scored 10 points or more. James had 13, and the United States also got double-digit contributions from Joe Johnson (12), Kirk Hinrich (10), Antawn Jamison (13) and Chris Paul (10).

After an exhibition game against South Korea, the U.S. team will head to Sapporo, Japan, for its opening game of the championships Saturday against Puerto Rico.

“I thought we played very good defense,” said U.S. Coach Mike Krzyzewski.

“Lithuania is a strong team, and we were able to take them out defensively,” he said. “I think we got better today by playing an outstanding team.”

Wade, who had 10 points in the first quarter, made back-to-back three-point shots to give the U.S. a 25-9 lead midway through the first period.

Anthony, Shane Battier, Hinrich, Wade and Elton Brand started for the U.S. team.

Kristov Lavrinovic led Lithuania with 26 points.