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Posted at 1:00 a.m., Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Olympics: US to play Lithuania, Turkey in exhibitions

Associated Press

The United States and Lithuania, who split a pair of meetings in the 2004 Olympics, will play each other as part of their preparations for Beijing Games.

The exhibition will take place on Aug. 1 at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel in Macau, China, nine days before the opening day of the Olympic men's basketball competition. The game was announced Tuesday in Macau, where the Americans will practice and play two games this summer.

The U.S. team also will face Turkey there on July 31.

Lithuania beat the United States 94-90 in a preliminary round game in Athens. But the Americans stopped the Lithuanians' quest for a third straight Olympic bronze medal with a 104-96 victory in the third-place game.

Lithuania qualified for the Beijing field by finishing third last year in the European championships. The team has been hoping to add Cleveland Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas to a core that already could include current or former NBA players Linas Kleiza, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Darius Songaila.

The Americans previously announced they will play exhibitions against Russia and Australia in Shanghai. They will face Canada on July 25 in Las Vegas in their lone game on home soil.