Lithuania came within a shot of pulling off one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history when they pushed the United States' 'Dream Team' to the limit before losing 85-83.

Sarunas Jasikievicius scored 27 points for the Lithuanians but missed a three-point shot at the buzzer.

The narrow victory sent the US team of National Basketball Association stars into Sunday's final against France, who crushed Australia 76-52 in the other semi-final.

"If somebody told me before the Olympics we would lose to the US team by two points, nobody would have believed it," said Lithuania's Tomas Masiulis.

American centre Alonzo Mourning claimed his team were "not shocked, we were concerned", adding: "I was confident justice would prevail.

"When we win the gold medal on Sunday, we will look at this as the obstacle we had to overcome to prove we were worthy of it."

AFP