Lebanese basketball player scores 113 points in a single FIBA game

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 06-04-2012

Category : FIBA World Championship

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Lebanese basketball player scores 113 points in a single FIBA game

OK, so, this post isn’t about any of the eight games on the Tuesday night NBA schedule. But when someone has reportedly scored 113 points in a single game, someone has reportedly scored 113 points in a single game, and so we write about it.

That’s what Mohammad El-Akkari – also known as Mustapha El-Akkari, who played college ball stateside for BYU-Hawaii, which is somehow a thing, except that he did not accumulate any stats? – reportedly just did in a FIBA Asia game.

As the story goes – and, to be honest, we’re having a tough time processing it ourselves, especially without video of some made shots – the 27-year-old Akkari, who had averaged just 7.6 points per game in the 23 games he’d previously played for Tripoli basketball club Mouttahed this season, scored 113 points on 40-of-69 shooting in a 173-141 win against Bejjeh in a Lebanese Division A League game.

That total, which reportedly includes a ludicrous 32-of-59 mark from 3-point land, would FAR outstrip every single-game mark in the history of FIBA competition.

Reached for comment on the prospect of bringing Akkari stateside, the Charlotte Bobcats said they had no interest in signing him, citing “tanking” as their primary reason. Oh, crap, was that supposed to be off the record?

From FIBAAsia.net:

Akkari reeled in an incredible 32 three-pointers out of 59 attempts in an overall 40/69 field shooting and a solitary free-throw.

“Thank God for this performance. I think it’s all a result of my practice,” Akkari said from [the] team bus on his way back to Tripoli.

Click here to continue

By Dan Devine | Ball Don’t Lie

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Gold again: US wins world basketball championship

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 13-09-2010

Category : FIBA World Championship

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ISTANBUL (AP) – Kevin Durant beamed as he listened to his national anthem, which hadn’t been played at the end of the basketball world championship in 16 years.

And that was no “B-Team” standing beside him on the center of the medals platform.

It was the best team in the world.

The United States won its first world basketball championship since 1994 on Sunday, beating Turkey 81-64 behind another sensational performance from the tournament MVP.

Durant scored 28 points, setting a record along the way for most in the tournament by a U.S. player. He left the court with 42 seconds remaining and shared a long hug with coach Mike Krzyzewski, who finally won the world title after his previous two attempts ended with bronze medals.

“Our only option was to come out here and get a gold, and it feels really good to bring this back home to the States,” Durant said.

Lamar Odom added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Americans, who won gold in the worlds for the fourth time, doing so with a team that was no sure thing after coming to Turkey without the superstars from its Olympic gold medal team.

With Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Co. sitting home, this group was called a “B-Team,” which the players were aware of and couldn’t wait to disprove.

“I think that was extra motivation,” Durant said. “It was exciting to come out here and win and also to prove people wrong.”

And they came through where many of their bigger-name predecessors couldn’t four years ago in Japan in the world championship, beginning to quiet a raucous crowd midway through the second quarter with a superb defensive effort.

“I thought we rallied and we became a little bit of an unconventional team,” Krzyzewski said. “We thought we could win, we just felt it would be a lot harder, and they worked real hard and they made it happen.”

Durant, who scored 33 and a U.S.-record 38 points in the previous two games, again took care of the offense, qualifying the U.S. for the 2012 Olympics.

Hedo Turkoglu of the Phoenix Suns scored 16 points for the Turks, who were bidding for their first title and were boosted by huge crowd support, with fans in red filling most of the 15,000-seat Sinan Erdem Dome.

Lithuania beat Serbia for the bronze earlier in the day.

Durant scored 20 in the first half, then hit consecutive 3-pointers early in the third quarter, yelling at Turkish fans sitting courtside and pounding his chest after the second, as the U.S. quickly extended a 10-point halftime lead.

The Americans already knew they’d be bringing a different team to Turkey after all the gold medalists from the 2008 Olympics opted to take this summer off. Then All-Star forwards Amare Stoudemire and David Lee were forced to withdraw on the opening day of training camp.

The U.S. was left with a young, undersized team, featuring six players 22 or younger and only one true center in Tyson Chandler, who quickly became a backup when forward Odom was installed as the starter.

So this team simply rode Durant to the gold medal. The NBA scoring champion made seven 3-pointers against Turkey, often pulling up from places that were simply too far away for its zone to reach, and the Americans outrebounded the Turks 42-34.

“This team had a lot of character and poise,” Odom said. “A lot of people thought we were undersized and we didn’t have a center, we didn’t have too many big guys. People thought we were going to get killed on the inside, but we played tough, hung in there, and stayed strong, focused.”

The whistling was so loud when U.S. players were introduced that it was hard to make out the names. There were more whistles and boos every time the Americans had the ball in the early going, and the building was at its loudest when Turkoglu made consecutive 3-pointers to give Turkey its first lead at 15-14 with 4:07 remaining in the first quarter.

Durant was most of the U.S. offense, as he often was throughout the tournament, scoring 11 points in the quarter to help the Americans to a 22-17 advantage.

Unable to crack Turkey’s zone, the U.S. kept going smaller to get more shooting on the floor, at one point playing Durant and Rudy Gay with guards Eric Gordon, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook.

The U.S. held Turkey to one field goal over the first 6 minutes of the second quarter, extending the lead to 10 on a 3-pointer by Durant. The Americans were ahead 42-32 at halftime.

The U.S. victory put a disappointing end to an important day for Turks, who approved sweeping changes to their constitution in a referendum vote, which the government hailed as a leap toward full democracy.

President Barack Obama called Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the game, congratulating him on the success of the tournament and Turkey’s team while acknowledging “the vibrancy of Turkey’s democracy as reflected in the turnout for the referendum.”

But the team, serenaded throughout by fans singing “12 Giant Men,” its theme song since its runner-up finish while hosting the 2001 European championship, fell short of becoming the fourth host to win the world championship and first since Yugoslavia in 1970.

The Turks were a step slow and consistently beaten on the boards, perhaps drained from their thrilling 83-82 victory over Serbia in Saturday’s late game.

“Nobody was expecting to be this far,” Turkoglu said. “So I’m really happy, really proud.”

FIBA inducted its Hall of Fame class at halftime, a group that included women’s star Cheryl Miller, former NBA centers Vlade Divac and Arvydas Sabonis, and Brazilian star Oscar Schmidt.

By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer

Durant’s 38 points carry US to title game

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 11-09-2010

Category : FIBA World Championship

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ISTANBUL (AP) – Kevin Durant is unlike most of America’s biggest basketball stars. He couldn’t wait to wear the red, white and blue this summer.

With a special memorial message on his sneakers, Durant carried the United States into the gold-medal game at the world championship, scoring a U.S.-record 38 points Saturday in an 89-74 victory over Lithuania.

“I just wanted to remember everybody back in the States, everybody that was affected by 9/11,” Durant said. “And to play on this day was a great honor and we just tried to do our best to play hard for our country and our families.”

Durant soared over defenders or stepped away from them for 3-pointers, scoring 17 in the first quarter to stake the Americans to an early lead that was never seriously challenged.

He went on to surpass Carmelo Anthony’s single-game record of 35 points and raise his average in the tournament to 22.1, which would be the best ever by a U.S. player.

“I’ve seen him score 45, 35, back-to-back,” guard and NBA teammate Russell Westbrook said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all what he’s been doing.”

More importantly, Durant guaranteed the Americans a chance at their first world title since 1994. They will play Turkey or Serbia on Sunday.

“That’s what we came here to do,” guard Eric Gordon said. “We’re a young team and we fight through a lot of adversity and that’s what we’re here for, to win the gold.”

There was some doubt this team was the one that could end the U.S. drought after all the superstars from the 2008 Olympic gold medalists declined to play this summer. But Durant kept saying yes, and he’s on the verge of going down as the most accomplished U.S. player ever in this event.

Durant posted a message on his Twitter page Saturday that read: “May God bless those who were effected by the events on Sept 11, 2001….9-11-01 on my shoes tonight..you guys will watch over us..”

Then he went out and dominated the first quarter, shooting at the basket in front of section 324, which was completely awash in Lithuania green and filled with fans banging drums and waving flags.

Lamar Odom added 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Andre Iguodala led the defensive effort that took Lithuania star Linas Kleiza right out of the game.

“They did a great job on our leader, Linas Kleiza. We couldn’t find a solution on their star Kevin Durant,” Lithuania coach Kestutis Kemzura said. “He was unstoppable today.”

The teams met last month in an exhibition game in Madrid, and the U.S. shot just 3 of 21 in the first quarter before rallying for a 77-61 victory. There would be no slow start this time.

Lithuania led by two midway through the first quarter before Durant seized the game, showing off his entire repertoire. First there was a dunk, followed by a three-point play and two free throws. Iguodala briefly interrupted the Durant show with a dunk, then Durant scored on a follow shot and made a 3-pointer.

In just 3 1/2 minutes, he had taken the U.S. from down two to up 10, and Lithuania never really recovered.

The Lithuanians hit their first eight 3-pointers in their quarterfinal victory over Argentina, but the outside shot wasn’t falling Saturday. They hit only three of 12 in the first half, yet still were down only eight with 3 minutes left before Thunder struck—the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Durant and Westbrook combined for nine straight points, extending the lead to 42-25. The U.S. took a 15-point advantage into the half.

The Americans extended the lead to 19 in the third quarter, and though Lithuania kept making little runs, could never get within single digits. Durant finished 14 of 25 from the field, adding nine rebounds in 38 minutes before taking a seat with 44 seconds remaining.

Robertas Javtokas had 15 points and nine rebounds for Lithuania, which lost for the first time and will play for bronze. Kleiza, who was averaging 19.1 points, was limited to four on 1-of-11 shooting.

Odom said playing on Sept. 11 was “an incredible moment for all us.” A native New Yorker, he said he lost friends from high school in the terrorist attacks on the United States nine years ago, and U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski also said he knew people that died.

“So to be playing and representing your country, it’s a big deal,” Odom said.

The Americans came in averaging 95 points and led the tournament in many other categories. But that was the case four years ago, too, and none of that mattered when Greece executed at will over the final three quarters in a 101-95 semifinal victory.

That was the latest U.S. disappointment in an event it was won only three times. Krzyzewski had lost in the semifinals of both previous appearances, with his team of college players winning a bronze in 1990.

Now the Americans have a chance at gold, and with it an automatic berth into the 2012 Olympics. Many of the stars have indicated they may return for that, so it’s unknown how many of these players will be back.

One thing has become clear: There will be a place for Durant.

“Really nobody can guard him, really,” Gordon said. “He’s like that in the NBA and it’s translating over here.”

By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer

US beats Russia, 89-79, moves into semis at worlds

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 10-09-2010

Category : FIBA World Championship

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ISTANBUL (AP) – Chauncey Billups made the promise. Kevin Durant made sure it was kept.

And by beating Russia on Thursday, the Americans brought a little joy to one of the players who will never forget what happened against the Soviets exactly 38 years earlier.

Durant scored 33 points to lead the United States to an 89-79 victory that moved it within two wins of its first world basketball championship since 1994.

The victory came on the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s win over the Americans for the 1972 Olympic gold medal, a game with an ending so controversial the U.S. players refused to accept their silver medals.

No player on the young American team is old enough to remember that game – many are barely old enough to remember the Cold War. But Mike Bantom, the NBA’s senior vice president of player development, played on that U.S. team and is in Turkey with the Americans.

“I told him today, ‘I know nothing’s going to bring that back, man, but at least we’ll try to make you at least smile today,’ ” Billups said. “And he was like, ‘Yeah, that’d be nice.”’

Durant ensured there would be no worries at the finish of this one, shooting 11 of 19 while just missing Carmelo Anthony’s world championship team record of 35 points, set in 2006.

“We’re going to go to him,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I’ve learned in coaching you should get your best player the ball.”

The U.S. will play Saturday against Lithuania, which beat Argentina 104-85. Host Turkey and Serbia will play in the other semifinal.

The U.S. and Russia have met many times since 1972, including a U.S. victory 16 years ago in Toronto that gave the Americans their last world championship. And there isn’t much of a rivalry anymore between the nations – the NBA even opened an office in Moscow on Thursday.

But the memory hasn’t faded of the clash in Munich, where the Soviets were given a third chance after the Americans stopped them twice in the final 3 seconds, and they eventually scored on the second do-over for a 51-50 victory – the Americans’ first Olympic loss after 63 victories.

David Blatt, Russia’s American-born coach, reopened some scars that will never heal for members of that U.S. team this week when he said he’d watched a film about the game and believed the outcome was fair.

Krzyzewski responded that, of course, Blatt would have that opinion as a Russian – which Blatt is not. He was born in the United States and went to Princeton.

Blatt stuck by his feelings about that game, but said his comments this week were taken out of context and the resulting back-and-forth was just gamesmanship.

“Coach K knows as well as I do that disagreeing or agreeing is generally very American,” Blatt said. “We don’t all have to see things the same way.”

Blatt’s team looked poised to deal the Americans more heartbreak, running its offense well in the first half and capitalizing on its size advantage inside to frustrate the U.S.

Then, leading by only five in the third quarter, the Americans finally began forcing the Russians into mistakes, which they turned into transition baskets that finally allowed them to shake free.

Russell Westbrook dunked after a turnover, hit a 3-pointer, came up with a steal and had another dunk to key a decisive 15-5 spurt that pushed the U.S. lead to 65-50. The Oklahoma City guard converted a three-point play to open the scoring in the fourth, and Durant’s brilliance from there helped the Americans further extend it in the fourth.

Billups scored 15 points and Westbrook finished with 12, including seven in a row for the Americans when their athleticism finally turned away a Russian team that had the pace to its liking for the first half.

“I think some of us, we kind of started off a little slow and then didn’t jump on them early, and tonight that was a big problem for us,” Westbrook said. “Then second half, we kind of got into our rhythm.”

The Americans finished with a 22-2 advantage in fast-break points and a 20-2 edge in points off turnovers.

Sergey Bykov scored 17 points for Russia, which exceeded expectations in this tournament after coming to the worlds without some of its top talent, most notably Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko, the MVP of their 2007 European championship.

Andrey Vorontsevich had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Timofey Mozgov, recently signed by the New York Knicks, scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

The Americans missed 17 of their first 25 shots, rotated too slowly on defense, and were outworked on the boards while trailing for much of the first half.

The U.S. built an early six-point advantage before Mozgov began to control the middle. He hit all four of his shots in the first quarter, twice while getting fouled, and his last basket tied it at 25 heading to the second period.

Russia got the first two baskets of that quarter, starting with an embarrassingly easy drive into the lane for an uncontested layup by Dmitriy Khvostov. The Russians pushed their lead to 35-30 midway through the period on consecutive baskets by Bykov, and only then did the Americans start digging in on defense.

They held Russia without a basket for more than 4 minutes, running off 12 straight points to take a seven-point lead, before going into the locker room ahead 44-39.

The Russians will play in the consolation bracket, still hoping to finish fifth.

By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer

U.S. shows look of potential champion

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 07-09-2010

Category : FIBA World Championship

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ISTANBUL – All these young American legs, all these willing, spindly long bodies, and here unfolded the blueprint for a world championship. They were red, white and blue blurs flooding the floor, pressuring the ball, passing and shooting with crispness and authority. Pity poor Angola, overmatched and overrun on Monday night.

And yet, for all the fretting of Team USA over its tender ages and scant international pedigrees, the Americans are still the deepest, most talented team in the tournament. They understood the sluggishness that had come and gone in group play needed to start dissipating. Sixteen years have passed without a world championship – an incredible span for the United States – and there was a sense with Team USA that it needed to start carrying itself like a champion as much as they needed to start playing like one.

Angola offered little resistance in the 121-66 verdict, and Team USA delivered the kind of devastating blow to start the game it was unable to do in letting Tunisia linger in the final group-play performance. This was one of the games where Kevin Durant and Rudy Gay were so dangerous on the wings, finishing with flourishes over and over.

“Regardless of what people are saying, we still are the favorites and we should play and really act like it,” Kevin Love said.

Now, Team USA plays Russia in the quarterfinals on Thursday with the semis and finals looming on Saturday and Sunday.

Before Team USA stepped on the floor for a round of 16 elimination game, coach Mike Krzyzewski challenged his team: For all this youth, where’s the enthusiasm? It would come from the oldest of these Americans – 34-year-old Chauncey Billups, who had missed 15 of 19 3-pointers in the worlds and struggled to find his shot.

Billups told his teammates it was upon him to start making shots again, to run Team USA, and he delivered a tone to the knockout round with his body-up defense and the return of his sweet stroke. Billups made five of his seven 3-pointers for 19 points, and restored his strong voice on Team USA with stronger play. As the competition gets stiffer the rest of this tournament, Billups becomes even more important to the Americans.

The U.S. needed a final stop to beat Brazil at the buzzer in group play, Spain is still extremely talented; Argentina’s Luis Scola has been the tournament’s most dominant player; and a wildcard, host Turkey, is playing brilliantly behind revived star Hedo Turkuglo and a raucous fandom. Team USA is still vulnerable along the frontline, still susceptible inside and in a grind-it-out game. Nevertheless, the U.S. needs three more victories this week to do something it hasn’t done since 1994: win the world championships in basketball.

“We’re beatable,” Krzyzewski cautioned.

No, Angola wasn’t much of a test, but Team USA is starting to look the part, starting to look like a champion ought to look. As much as anything, this was the blueprint for the Americans. This is the golden ticket.

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports

US faces a navigable road at basketball worlds

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 03-09-2010

Category : FIBA World Championship

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ISTANBUL (AP) – All around them, the Americans find compelling matchups for the round of 16: a rematch of the 2006 title game; a coach facing a home country he led to an Olympic gold medal; two bitter rivals to get it all started.

All the while, a fairly navigable road right to the semifinals was emerging for the United States.

Elimination games at the world championship begin Saturday, including a surprisingly early matchup between Spain and Greece, two of the pre-tournament favorites. The Spaniards routed the Greeks for the title four years ago in Japan.

The final day of pool play began with the possibility of one those teams looming as a quarterfinal opponent for the U.S. Instead, after facing Angola, a team the U.S. traditionally just shoves out of the way, the Americans would get the winner of Russia-New Zealand, neither considered a contender.

The U.S. wasn’t sharp in its final two games of pool play, but guard Chauncey Billups compared those matchups against Iran and Tunisia to an NBA team taking it easy in its final two regular-season games before the playoffs start.

“That’s over with now, and now we can get to the meat and potatoes,” Billups said.

The main courses in the knockout stage come right away. Serbia and Croatia, who fought a war in the early 1990s, play the opening game Saturday at the Sinan Erdem Dome. Spain and Greece follow in the nightcap.

On Sunday, it’s Slovenia-Australia, followed by unbeaten host Turkey against France. The U.S.-Angola and Russia-New Zealand games are Monday, before Lithuania faces China and Argentina plays Brazil on Tuesday.

The final matchup features Brazil coach Ruben Magnano trying to knock off some of the same players he led to gold in the 2004 Olympics and silver in the 2002 worlds.

“Major tournaments, like the world championships and the Olympics can be very cruel at times,” the Argentine said.

The long rest before Brazil’s game gives Anderson Varejao more time for to recover. The Cleveland Cavaliers forward grabbed 12 rebounds Tuesday in just his second game after sitting out the first three with a sprained right ankle. He’ll have to key the defensive effort against Argentina’s Luis Scola of the Houston Rockets, leading the tournament with 29 points a game.

“To try to stop him, it’s not easy, we know that,” Varejao said. “It’s for a reason he’s the scoring leader in the tournament, but we believe we can do that, we can do a good job against him.”

The winner of that game, or unbeaten Lithuania, is the most likely opponent for the Americans if they reach the semifinals.

And the Americans are predicted to get there, no matter how inconsistently they played during the group stage.

“When it comes to basketball, people expect us to win and play well all the time and win every tournament, win every game,” center Lamar Odom said. “And basketball’s played all over the world now, there’s a balance of talent spread throughout the world.”

Angola finished fourth in Group A. The perennial African champions went 0-5 in the 2008 Olympics, where the U.S. beat them 97-76, but bounced back to advance through pool play for the second straight time in the world championship.

“We know we are going to play a tough and athletic Angola team that played us really well in the Olympics two years ago,” guard Stephen Curry said. “We’re going to be ready.”

Russia has slipped since its surprising European championship in 2007, while New Zealand has former Wisconsin star Kirk Penney, the tournament’s second-leading scorer with 25.4 points a game, but probably not enough else to topple the U.S.

So it’s easy to imagine the Americans playing next weekend, which Billups believes they will do as long as they dig in on both ends of the floor.

“Be very aggressive and very unselfish,” he said. And I think that if we do that, we’ll be playing on next Sunday.”

By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer

Spain brushes off worlds favorite tag

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 03-09-2010

Category : FIBA World Championship

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MADRID (AP) – While defending champion Spain tries to brush off the label of favorite ahead of the basketball world championships, the United States is doing its best to make it stick.

The two teams are playing an exhibition game Sunday – a rematch of the 2008 Olympic final won by the Americans – in what could be perhaps the best indicator of who will carry the tag into the tournament in Turkey beginning Aug. 28.

Former Toronto Raptors forward Jorge Garbajosa said it would be “ridiculous” to call Spain the favorites despite retaining most of their Olympic silver team – minus center Pau Gasol.

“To have an advantage mentally, I guess, that’s what some teams do,” U.S. forward Lamar Odom said Friday. “(But) the champion is always considered the favorite.”

No one from the Olympic gold-medal team will return for the Americans, whose inexperience is its biggest problem in a tournament that it hasn’t won in 16 years.

“We’re going to play at our best and we’re going to try. Whatever other people think of us, whether we’re favorites or a B team or we’re going to lose, it doesn’t make any difference,” coach Mike Krzyzewski Friday said at the “Magic Box” in Madrid, where the Americans trained. “I never pay attention to what anyone says.”

Spain guard Sergio Llull said the U.S. team was “incognito as always in these types of tournaments,” referring to the less well-known players on the roster.

“While they didn’t call up those players most fans recognize as their biggest stars, they’re still playing with players that are stars in the NBA,” Llull said.

Krzyzewski put Argentina and Greece alongside Spain as tournament favorites, although he believes the defending champions’ experience, camaraderie and “sensational” passing game will make Sunday’s game a lot different than the last one.

“We don’t have our whole system in yet – what we’re going to do offensively and defensively – whereas Spain already knows,” Krzyzewski said.

“Exhibitions are somewhat like scrimmages – you want to win, no question.

But we still want to take a look at everybody. It’ll be a big game but it won’t be bigger than if we play in Turkey, and that’s what we have to gear ourselves up for.”

Spain’s players were reserving judgment on the Americans until at least Saturday, when the United States was scheduled to play Lithuania.

“It’ll show us where we are and what level we are at going into the worlds,” Spain guard Ricky Rubio said. “It’ll help us get the title again.”

Spain will be without Gasol, who decided to skip the tournament after a long season that saw him help the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA championship. But the European champions have a steady fill of NBA players in Rudy Fernandez, Jose Manuel Calderon and Gasol’s brother Marc, who came up big in the final victory over Greece four years ago with Pau injured.

Fernandez and Gasol trained normally on Friday after picking up leg injuries, while U.S. guard Stephen Curry should also be available from a left ankle injury after practicing Friday.

“Spain, that’s the team to beat,” American guard Derrick Rose said. “They last won it. They’ve got the players, they’re veterans and they have a passion for the game and to win.”

Krzyzewski also warned his young team about letting emotions get away from them after a brawl involving Greece and Serbia on Thursday ended with a player being held in jail overnight.

“The passion that comes out when you’re playing that country’s team on their soil – it’s at the highest level,” Krzyzewski said.

By PAUL LOGOTHETIS, AP Sports Writer

US wins first meeting with Iran, stays unbeaten

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 02-09-2010

Category : FIBA World Championship

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ISTANBUL (AP) – In the political arena, Iran vs. the United States is a matchup that gets attention.

In a basketball arena, not so much.

“For me, it’s a normal game,” Iran captain Mahdi Kamrany said.

The United States won it easily, earning a top seed in the knockout round of the world championship with an 88-51 victory Wednesday in the first meeting between the countries with a history of contentious relations.

The U.S. team, which downplayed the political aspect of the game, methodically pulled away in the first half, wearing down the Asian champions with its depth and athleticism.

“We just respected their basketball team and we just played a basketball game,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “There’s no political aspect in my mind in the ballgame.”

Kevin Love scored 13 points and Kevin Durant 12 for the Americans (4-0), who will meet the fourth-place team from Group A in the round of 16.

After playing his starters for most of the second half of a 70-68 victory over Brazil on Monday, Krzyzewski went to the bench early in this one, with the Americans shooting 58 percent and scoring 23 points off turnovers in the easy victory.

Hamed Haddadi scored 19 points for Iran (1-3) and Arsalan Kazemi had 14.

“I’m very happy, I played against the best team in the world,” Kamrany said.

The tensions between the nations’ governments provided the backdrop off the court, with a group of fans sitting near midcourt before the game holding U.S. and Iran flags and a sign reading “PEACE” in between.

The only sparring on the floor was a playful bump between Haddadi and U.S. forward Rudy Gay, teammates with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.

“We should leave politics to the politicians,” U.S. center Tyson Chandler said. “We’re here to play basketball.”

The countries have feuded for decades and their relations have deteriorated in recent years, with the United States supporting sanctions against Iran for continuing with programs it believes could be used to create nuclear weapons.

The U.S. team tried to keep the focus on the floor, with Krzyzewski saying he had played in Iran in the 1970s with an Armed Forces team and had great respect for the country.

Krzyzewski was answering a question about turnovers in the postgame news conference when he noticed Iran coach Veselin Matic to his left nodding in agreement.

“That’s the first level of diplomacy. That’s one thing we’re in agreement with,” Krzyzewski joked.

There’s no rivalry on the basketball court, where the nations had never met in Olympic or world championship play. The Iranian national team even came to Utah two years ago at the invitation of the NBA to play in a summer league as preparation for the 2008 Olympics.

“That’s one of the beautiful things about sports,” U.S. center Lamar Odom said. “If you think about the history of sports, you take people from different cultures, from different beliefs and bring them together. Sports is the one thing that can kind of bring people together and have a great atmosphere. It was great playing a game like this.”

And in a nod to the Iranian supporters in Istanbul – which included minister of sports Ali Saeedlou earlier in the tournament – dancers were ordered to cover up for their performances during the game. Islam prohibits women from exposing their skin in public, and Iranian officials had turned their backs when the dancers performed in earlier games.

The dancers wore long pants Wednesday.

Iranian fans, many waving flags and chanting, had plenty to cheer early. Haddadi won the opening tip, Durant fired a pass behind Andre Iguodala and out of bounds on the Americans’ first possession, and the U.S. lead was only six after one quarter.

But the Americans quickly pushed it into double digits in the second and gradually extended it to 14 at halftime. They opened the second half with another burst to push it past 20 and turn Group B’s second game of the night into a dull affair.

Krzyzewski said he thought the Americans were tired, more mentally than physically, against Brazil, in what was their third game in three days and sixth in 10 – in three different countries. They were fresher after a day off, with Krzyzewski saying they looked better in the second half.

“As the game moved along we got better in the game,” he said.

Following Thursday’s game against winless Tunisia, the Americans will have three days off before playing Monday against an opponent still to be determined. But a difficult quarterfinal could follow, with Spain looming as a possible opponent after two surprising losses have dropped the defending world champions into third place in their group.

The Americans want to have their reserves playing well by then, and all 12 players scored Wednesday. Derrick Rose had 11 points and Danny Granger added 10.

By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer

Team USA’s three biggest challengers at FIBA Worlds

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 31-08-2010

Category : FIBA World Championship

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It’s tempting to look at the roster put together by Team USA for this year’s World Championship in Turkey and strictly focus on the players who aren’t there. No Kobe Bryant, no LeBron James, no Dwyane Wade, no Carmelo Anthony.

This is certainly not the team that won the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and winning the U.S.’s first World Championship gold since 1994 will be no easy task. “It’s a very good team,” said Reggie Miller, a member of that ’94 team. “It’s not the Dream Team, but it still might be the best team out there.”

That’s something Team USA has going for it as the tournament opens Saturday with a pool game against Croatia. While the U.S. might be missing its biggest stars, several other international stalwarts will be sitting out the World Championship, too.

Manu Ginobili and Andres Nocioni are out for Argentina. Pau Gasol won’t be playing for Spain. Yao Ming (China) and Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) usually are their teams’ cornerstones, but both will miss the tournament. Tony Parker (France), Nene (Brazil), Andrew Bogut (Australia) – the U.S. is hardly the only entry not at full strength.

Despite that, the Americans are showing the proper humility toward the rest of the teams in the field, which has been a sticking point with Team USA in the past.

Asked which team was the favorite, Chauncey Billups said, “The defending champion Spain is going to be great. Greece will be great. Argentina is going to be great. Of course, I feel like we are the best team in it, but we got to still prove that.”

Billups clearly has done his scouting. Spain and Argentina are the last two World Champs, and it was Greece that toppled Team USA in the ’06 semifinals. There are a couple of dark horses – Serbia is young but talented, and Turkey has the home edge – but, essentially, you’ve got three teams that stand in the way of a U.S. gold.

1. Spain. This is not a good matchup for the U.S., because Spain has very good ballhandlers (Ricky Rubio, Juan Carlos Navarro, Raul Lopez, Rudy Fernandez) who can neutralize the pressure defense that is a staple of the American game plan. What’s more, Spain has legit big men like Marc Gasol and Jorge Garbajosa who can take advantage of Team USA’s lack of size.

2. Greece. The Greek team also has quality guards, even without star Theo Papaloukas. Dimitris Diamantidis and Vassilis Spanoulis are well-tested in international tournaments, and Greece has very solid chemistry that helps them play greater than the sum of their parts. They killed the U.S. with a 3-point barrage in ’06, and the challenge for Team USA will be defending the perimeter while still being able to guard their big guys.

3. Argentina. It’s not quite the same team it was in Ginobili’s heyday, but there is still talent, starting with Luis Scola at power forward, who has seized the leadership role. There doesn’t seem to be anyone on the U.S. roster who can guard him effectively down low. Losing Nocioni hurts, but they have center Fabricio Oberto and if Carlos Delfino’s shot is working, Argentina is tough to guard.

SportingNews

US survives test, holds on to edge Brazil 70-68

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 31-08-2010

Category : FIBA World Championship

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ISTANBUL (AP) – The shot bounced off the back rim, then the front, then finally fell out.

With that, the United States walked off the court with a victory, and another warning: A world championship won’t come easily for this young team—if it comes at all.

The Americans survived their first tough test in Turkey, edging Brazil 70-68 on Monday when Leandro Barbosa’s shot rattled out at the buzzer.

“This game right here was an eye opener,” U.S. guard Derrick Rose said.

Kevin Durant scored 27 points and Chauncey Billups added 15 for the Americans (3-0), who essentially clinched Group B with the victory. But they have bigger goals than a group championship, trying to end a 16-year U.S. drought in this event.

This U.S. team has to do without Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and all the other players who led the Americans to the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics, and those guys never needed breaks at the buzzer.

“We know that teams are really coming in here to try to win this tournament and we’re here to do the same,” said Rose, the only other U.S. player in double figures with 11 points.

After the Americans trailed most of the first 2 1/2 quarters, Lamar Odom’s dunk with 7:14 left put them ahead 64-62. But they couldn’t build on the lead during a tense final few minutes, and Brazil had two chances to send the game to overtime.

Following a miss by Billups, Brazil got the ball and Marcelo Huertas was fouled on a drive to the basket with 3.5 seconds remaining. He missed the first free throw and then the second intentionally, tracking it down in the corner and firing it underneath to Barbosa, who lofted a shot over Kevin Love, only to have it bounce off the back and front of the rim.

“I thought it was going to in, but it’s OK,” Barbosa said. “I think we did a great job, it was a great game. I don’t think the USA knew that we could cause problems for them and we did it.”

Barbosa finished with 14 points after a strong start for Brazil (2-1). Marcus Vinicius scored 16, and Tiago Splitter had 13 points and 10 rebounds while battling foul trouble in the second half.

With NBA big men Nene, Anderson Varejao and Splitter, Brazil was considered one of the teams with enough size to topple the undersized Americans. Nene had to pull out with an injury and Varejao sat out again while continuing to rest a sprained right ankle, so the Brazilians turned to a speed game to lead for much of the game.

They just couldn’t finish the upset, leaving the Americans needing only a victory over Iran or Tunisia, the bottom two teams in Group B, or another Brazil loss to earn the top seed from the group and three full days off before meeting the No. 4 seed from Group A on Sept. 6.

The Americans have plenty to work on before worrying about that, after needing a huge night from Durant and 31 minutes from Billups, the old man of the team at 33 who had their only basket in the final 6:50.

“I knew that in the first half that this was going to be a fourth-quarter game, a last two- or three-minute game, and I was preparing myself to just be ready,” Billups said.

Nowhere was the difference between this team and its predecessor more apparent than in the matchup with Barbosa. When the teams last met, in their 2007 Olympic qualifier, Barbosa entered as the tournament’s leading scorer before Bryant led a defensive effort that held him to four points on 1-of-7 shooting in an easy U.S. win.

There’s no defenders like Bryant here, and Barbosa took advantage in the first quarter by making two 3-pointers and scoring eight points. Brazil made 12 of its first 16 shots in the period and its first four 3-pointers, streaks that were snapped when Barbosa was just short on a half-court heave at the buzzer, leaving them with a 28-22 lead.

Brazil extended its lead to eight early in the second quarter and was still up seven midway through the period, but with Splitter on the bench with two fouls, and Barbosa and Alex Garcia joining him, the Americans cut it to one a couple of times.

Splitter’s dunk sent the Brazilians to the half with a 46-43 advantage.

The Americans finally grabbed the lead midway through the third, extending it to 61-55 after consecutive baskets by Durant. Barbosa scored the final four points of the period, though, and pulled Brazil within two heading to the fourth.

The crowd grew solidly behind the underdogs, cheering loudly for Brazil baskets and booing loudly when a small “U-S-A!” chant broke out in the fourth.

Brazil is coached by Ruben Magnano, who guided Argentina to victories over the U.S. in the 2002 worlds and 2004 Olympics, when the Argentines won gold. He nearly authored another upset, as players on both teams thought Barbosa’s shot was going in.

“I had Durant right in front of me, I couldn’t see,” Huertas said. “I was in the corner but I saw the ball tipped on both sides of the rim and went out. It was a big disappointment.”

U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski used his reserves liberally in the first two games, but gave much longer runs to the starters Monday after the backups were ineffective during their first stints.

Billups, who played in the 2007 victory over Brazil, thought it was good for his young teammates to have a close game so soon.

“We came out victorious, but for the young guys, just know how thin of a line it is. Possessions, turnovers, things like that that we talk about,” he said. “Now they can see it.”

By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer

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