Team USA’s final exhibition game in Macao came this morning against Lithuania, but there was no dilly-dallying involved in this one. Unlike yesterday’s putrid defensive showing in the first quarter against Turkey, the boys in red, white, and blue put on a clinic to open up this one. Team USA’s defensive aggression, both pressuring the ball and disrupting the passing lanes, ignited their transition game right from the get-go, as they opened the game on a 14-2 run. Lithuania came back to knock down a three seconds later, but just when you thought the momentum would shift, the United States extended the run to 24-5 in the blink of an eye. Dwight Howard was the centerpiece of the offensive output, as he led all first quarter scorers with 10 points, but guys like Jason Kidd, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant executed the fast break to perfection.

Even so, as mentioned before, it all starts on the defensive end. Perhaps the most impressive defensive play of the first quarter came at the 1:30 mark, when Dwyane Wade came from the weak side to swat an interior shot out of bounds. He continues to look more and more like his old self by the day. It’s safe to say that he’s “back,” ladies and gentleman.

Near the end of the quarter, Lithuania took better care of the ball and defensively went into a 2-3 zone to disrupt the United States’ offensive flow, but their turnover count and 5-16 first quarter shooting left them trailing by 15 after one.

End of 1st Quarter: United States 31, Lithuania 16

After Michael Redd came off the bench to open up the second-quarter attack with a three, Lithuania connected on back-to-back long-distance jumpers, cutting the US lead to 13. Unfortunately for Lithuania, they didn’t have a chance to get too comfortable, as the United States reiterated their transition game to push their lead back up to 18. Deron Williams, especially, made good decisions on the break. Kobe Bryant added extra umph to the run at the 3:23 mark, as he threw down a lob pass from Dwyane Wade one-handed.

Lithuania’s presence was existent in the second quarter, unlike the first, however. Their ball movement was excellent, and their 8-13 shooting clip throughout the quarter was a testament to that. In addition, they also played more aggressively, and were rewarded with a few trips to the free throw line. Defensively, their 2-3 zone continued to give the United States some trouble; they forced the Americans into many tough, contested jumpers, and outside of Michael Redd hitting 2-4 from deep, Team USA didn’t shoot the ball particularly well from the perimeter.

Robertas Javtokas was the most impressive Lithuanian in the second quarter. The 6′10” big showed terrific polish inside, and was undoubtedly his club’s most aggressive player throughout the first half, where he tallied nine points and three boards.

With all of that said, the United States still held a commanding 17-point lead at intermission. Dwight Howard went into the locker room as the game’s highest scorer with 15 points, and Kobe Bryant was right behind him with 11 of his own.

Halftime: United States 56, Lithuania 39

The third quarter was quite a treat.

Lithuania kicked off the second half like gangbusters, as they put on an absolute clinic from beyond the arc, where they connected on four of their first five attempts of the quarter. Marijonas Petravicius helped diversify Lithuania’s attack, as well, as he was very effective in pick n’ roll situations. In just three minutes, the United States lead was cut from 17 to nine.

Just like old times, the US must improve their closeouts.

Team USA didn’t lose focus, however, as Dwight Howard and LeBron James each threw down jams to push their lead back to double-digits and force Lithuania to call a timeout to regroup. That was proven unsuccessful, as seconds after play resumed, Kobe Bryant stole the ball at halfcourt and fed James for yet another thunderous slam in transition, increasing the lead to 16. Soon enough, a Kobe Bryant jackhammer would put it to 20.

The United States bench did a lot of good things to close out the quarter on a high note, as well. Deron Williams dished some beautiful passes inside to LeBron James and Chris Bosh, and eventually created an and-one opportunity for himself by bulling his way to the basket and kissing the ball off the window after contact.

The real show of the closing minutes of the quarter, however, was not Deron Williams, LeBron James, or Chris Bosh. It was Dwyane Wade, who put on an show. After a relatively quiet first half of just four points, Wade made it look easy by pouring in 10 quick points in the final few minutes of the third frame. Following a pair of threes, Wade caught a lob from Chris Paul in transition and threw it down with force. On the last possession of the quarter, Wade proceeded to slither his way to the bucket off the bounce, and bank a runner off the window.

Thanks to a little help from the 2006 NBA Finals MVP, the game was, as usual, blown wide open after three.

End of 3rd Quarter: United States 91, Lithuania 66

Wade wasn’t done, though. He was still hot to open up the fourth quarter, as he immediately buried another three, this one coming from the right baseline. Roughly two minutes later, he came up with a strip and threw down an insane windmill alley-oop in transition.

Let me go over that again: Wade threw down an absolute sickening windmill slam off of an alley-oop lob. Whether you saw this game live or not, check the highlights for that bad boy, which put a fitting stamp on his 15-point second half.

Once again, Dwyane Wade is back in full effect, folks.

From that point on, it was time to cruise the rest of the way and allow the reserves to get some time on the floor. Guys like Carlos Boozer and Tayshaun Prince got a little action, and Michael Redd kept the juices flowing with back-to-back threes after replacing Dwyane Wade. Heck, he even dunked the ball in transition, something you don’t see very often.

That’s all she wrote; the United States moves to 3-0.

Final: United States 120, Lithuania 84

The US scoring distribution was very balanced. Dwyane Wade led all scorers with 19; Dwight Howard fell right behind at 17, Michael Redd contributed 16 off the bench, and LeBron James put in 15. Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony were the other two Americans in double-figures, as they combined for 24 points.

The energetic backcourt bench duo of Chris Paul and Deron Williams combined for just 12 points, but along with that came 12 assists.

For Lithuania, Rimantas Kaukenas led the way with 17 points, followed by 13 from Ramunas Siskauskas and 11 from Robertas Javtokas. Carmelo Anthony’s Denver Nuggets teammate Linas Kleiza tallied eight points and seven rebounds, while former NBA guard Sarunas Jasikevicius put in nine points on a rough 2-8 shooting clip.

The United States’ fourth exhibition opponent will be Russia. They’ll square off Sunday, August 3 at 3:00 am ET. To spare our sleep patterns and sanity, the same will be replayed later that night at 7:00 pm ET on ESPN2.